1-Stop cuts down the stops across the logistics industry

A technology joint-venture between two major Australian stevedoring operators has radically improved freight handling across Australia’s port network and beyond...

As Australian ports continue to increase their annual volume of imports and exports there has correspondingly been a growing demand to build electronic improvements into the container handling chain. As we move further away from the old methods of communicating (such as faxing and other paper documentation), more and more electronic methodologies are evolving for data transference.

Given this scenario, companies wishing to gain or maintain a competitive edge, are now advised to adopt new business-to-business strategies that involve integration with all parties in the supply chain. Faced with the intense competition in the Australian freight handling and logistics industry, a technologybased joint venture between two major stevedoring firms has meant dramatic improvements to cargo movements through the country’s ports – to the benefit of the industry as a whole.

In March 2003 a company called ‘1-Stop Connections’ went to market with an integrated information exchange system for Australia’s international and coastal trade community.

1-Stop is a joint venture between stevedoring companies Patrick Stevedores and DP World (previously P&O Ports) which provides an electronic translation and integration hub for all the different message types flowing between the transport and logistics industry, Australian Customs and the stevedores. 1-Stop’s vision was to centralise the development of the electronic links between supply chain participants and offer value to the industry by delivering; standardised processes, automation of repetitive transactions, greater visibility, improved data quality and enhanced customer responsiveness.

In short, 1-Stop effectively became the pipe through which the majority of Customs and container related messages move to and from the stevedores. 1-Stop’s chief executive, Peter Kosmina, says the venture began through the stevedore’s realisation that while IT wasn’t actually a competitive area for them, it was also an area where the whole industry could achieve major efficiency gains – but only if it collaborated to produce an integrated system capable of automating significant paper-based systems.

“It was decided to set up a joint company to be the gateway for any electronic trading and information exchange that anyone could use including Customs, the shipping lines, importers and exporters. We’ve become that community gateway for industry,” says Kosmina.

EDI making a difference
One issue commonly faced by organisations moving into Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), relates to document compatibility – with internal IT resources frequently being used up ‘making it fit’. Kosmina says this is not the case for 1-Stop clients. “As the information and communication technology provider, we do all the work of taking the message in, and translating it into the format that’s required by the receiver,” he says. “Then we take what the receiver sends back to us and translate it back into the format the sender requires it in. We’ve expanded from road to rail, and over the four years we’ve been operating we’ve changed what were manual paper processes into more streamlined electronic processes.” In terms of return on investment, 1-Stop’s impact has been impressive.

For example, the ‘autogate’ processes it enables (being able to process truck arrivals at a port electronically, rather than through a complex exercise of form-filling) have cut about 14 minutes off the average time a truck spends per port visit. On top of the benefits this streamlining provides to trucking firms, the system has other significant efficiency impacts for all port and logistics operators. “What it also does when you connect it to the vehicle booking system is give you the consistency of being able to better plan your day,” says Kosmina. “The information we get from the terminals for example – including vessel schedules, container movement messages, discharge messages, load messages, gate-in, and gate-out messages – enables us to provide a service to those with an interest in particular cargo.

Any milestone relating to a container’s movement, we’ve got in our system.” While this information is primarily used to report to Customs on behalf of the stevedores, Kosmina says 1-Stop can add value to that information by integrating that messaging into the backend systems of the cargo owners, for example confirming that it’s onboard a specific ship. “That data can go into their IT systems allowing them to have information ahead of time,” he explains, “enabling them to plan better and therefore set up a consistent operation, which can cut costs out of their business.”

As a result freight terminals are able to staff-up appropriately depending on the volume of road and rail traffic coming in on specific days, versus what’s required on the ships. “Also importers and exporters, and their carriers, are better able to plan their processes based on the improved consistency of service they get from the road/rail interface,” says Kosmina.

Another area of concern for the freight industry is compliance with Australian Customs and the ever evolving landscape of rules and regulations that must be adhered to. Given 1-Stop is now the “gateway” to the freight forwarding community, the documentation changes can be addressed by 1-Stop (as opposed to by every supply chain member individually), and means a reduction in the pressures associated with industry change relating to Customs and other regulatory authorities.

System appropriate for many industries
The 1-Stop system was built by The ECN Group – a solution provider specialising in automating manual processes. The core of the 1-Stop system is a messaging system called TradeXpress (a commercial product from French company Illicom). ECN also uses TradeXpress as the core of its business-to-business messaging hub product, EasyEC, which includes functionality such as web visibility, reporting, provisioning and exception management tools beyond the core transaction engine which TradeXpress provides.

With the power of 1-Stop now solidly proven by several years of operation in the demanding Australian port environment, the potential to implement the solution in other industries and markets is now being investigated. “There are numerous areas where our vision could be deployed beyond our stevedoring customers and into the wider logistics community,” says Kosmina. “Depending on how a terminal wants to operate, the footprint we’ve established here could work in any terminal facility in Australia or around the world.”

Utilising 1-Stop’s information hub and ECN technology there are many opportunities to further develop trade information system’s that are able to provide valuable insights to the industry via detailed and real-time cargo movement data. “With the information we have in our system, we know what boxes are travelling to and from Australia - and that is information which has the ability to assist the industry,” says Kosmina.

For more information about this case study
The ECN Group
www.ecngroup.com.au
Michael Davey
michael.davey@ecngroup.com.au
+61 2 89054800

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