According to an estimate by Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) every year more than one million trucks haul empty containers on the roads of the Port of Hamburg. Together with the port industry and stakeholders HPA is developing concepts to improve logistics processes. The goal is to ease the burden on heavily used roads. One milestone was reached in 2016 when Hamburg’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transport and Innovation [BWVI], HPA and the Association of Container Packing Service Providers asked IBM to realise the Virtual Depot pilot project. The project aims to avoid unnecessary empty container trips through an IT application. Following a transparent tendering process HPA has recently awarded the Virtual Depot project to DAKOSY, an independent IT service provider, and entered into a co-operation agreement to ensure the continuation of the application. DAKOSY plans to integrate the project into myboxplace.de, a platform that matches the supply and demand of empty container transports from seaport terminals to the hinterland / depots.
Up until December 2017, the Virtual Depot project helped reduce the number of truck trips in the port by around 4,000. The project thus actively contributes to improving the air quality in Hamburg. DAKOSY has business relations with many firms based in the port and the European hinterland and will further develop the project. It can rely on these customer relations to market, sell and distribute the application.
“The huge success of the Virtual Depot project makes the Port of Hamburg a pioneer in digitalisation,” says Jens Meier, CEO of HPA. “DAKOSY is a perfect partner to market and further develop the application.”
“By integrating the Virtual Depot into existing DAKOSY import and export processing platforms we expect to create additional synergies that benefit all parties involved,” explains Ulrich Wrage, CEO of DAKOSY AG. “Our aim is to integrate empty container handling into the transport process as seamlessly as possible.”
Background: supply and demand on the virtual market
Normally parties involved in container logistics do not communicate directly with each other as container fleets are managed by liner companies and hauliers. Often the parties involved do not have direct contractual relations with each other. As the owners of the containers liner shipping companies are responsible for stuffing and unstuffing them. They may also leave the empty boxes with a haulier who purchases such processes from the packing service providers. After a packing service provider has unstuffed a full container, it is moved to an empty container depot. Frequently, the same box is later moved from the empty container depot to the same packing service provider for use in seaborne export.
As the parties involved in container logistics are spread throughout the port and its surrounding area, truck trips are plenty. This is where the Virtual Depot comes into play. On the one hand, it brings together supply and demand by providing a virtual market and on the other hand, transactions can be processed and recorded. The actual contractual relationships, including all rights and obligations, between shipping companies, depots, packing service providers, hauliers, truck drivers and other parties involved remain unchanged.
