US-based XVELA, creators of a cloud-based vessel stowage and collaboration platform for ocean carriers and terminal operators, has announced that a wave of new terminal operators and shipping lines have signed on for pilot programs to put the XVELA platform to the test.
Organisations that have committed to pilot XVELA to date include the terminal operators Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, PSA International, DP World, Modern Terminals Limited in Hong Kong and the Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia.
Ocean carriers agreeing to take part include shipping giant Maersk Line, MCC Transport, Orient Overseas Container Line, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha and Hapag-Lloyd.
The first wave of five pilots all start within the next 2-4 weeks and will run for 60-90 days. Christopher Mazza, vice president and chief customer officer at XVELA, told Port Strategy more about the scheme.
“All pilots are setup with three phases. Phase 1 encompasses the BAPLIE, Phase 2 the MOVINS and Phase 3 the COARRI. Phases 1 and 2 will provide improved, actionable visibility for both terminals and ocean carriers,” he said.
“Phase 2 will also allow terminals to provide earlier feedback on the validity of the stowage plan, resolve potential issues and be better prepared to work the ship more quickly and efficiently by allocating terminal resources earlier in the process,” added Mr Mazza.
The aim of the pilots is to provide improved, actionable visibility of stowage planning-related information for both terminal operators and shipping lines along with better connectivity between carriers, terminals and partner organizations. This means terminals will be able to access departure stowage plans as ships leave prior terminals, allowing them to allocate resources and resolve potential issues earlier than ever before.
Carriers, meanwhile, benefit from increased transparency of terminal operations throughout the stowage process and the ability to share select information in real time with alliance partners. The tangible goals of the pilot program are increased operating efficiency and asset utilisation.
Port Strategy asked Mr Mazza when tangible benefits were likely to be seen.
“While the primary goals of the initial pilots are to stress-test the system, prove the potential value of the platform, and allow our pilot partners to provide feedback on functionality and areas for further development, we do expect to see the tangible results of increased operating efficiency and asset utilization on a modest scale by the completion of the pilots in May/June 2016,” he explained.
Given the breadth of participants in the pilot program and the diversity of planning solutions currently in use across the organisations, it is key that XVELA is compatible with any viable terminal operating system or stowage planning software.
Robert Inchausti, Chief Technology Officer, XVELA stated, “We know that widespread acceptance is essential to the success of a collaboration platform, so we are designing XVELA to work with the optimization tools that carriers and terminals are already using. The XVELA platform supports these tools by providing more information with more accurate, higher quality data in a much more timely manner, and by allowing terminals and carriers to easily share select information with partners and other relevant parties.”
Expressing his confidence in the success of the pilots, Mr Mazza said: “Clearly the industry sees the value to be gained from the real-time information sharing and collaboration capabilities XVELA offers.”
“Our latest pilot participants are some of the most technologically advanced and forward-thinking terminal operators and carriers in the industry – they see the possibilities here, and understand both the immediate value and wide-ranging potential of the XVELA platform to improve terminal-carrier cooperation to reduce costs and increase efficiency for both parties,” he concluded.
