The More Visible, the Better For DHL optimal visibility of transport flows is a major issue. For this reason the company is also an enthusiastic participant in the INTEGRITY project (see news item page 5) which aims at improving the reliability and security of worldwide supply chains. “But also on a more general level optimal information provision is crucial to us,” say Maaten and Van Wensveen. “It enables us to concentrate on exceptions and boosts our reliability for customers. Compared with other ports, Rotterdam is already quite far advanced as regards to the dissemination of information. ECT’s website, for example, gives a lot of relevant information about container releases and related subjects.”
TCT Venlo. “Security is at ISPS level, for example. That’s very important for our clients. In addition TCT Venlo is a neutral terminal, which means we can organise our own onward transport. And thanks to the round-the-clock opening hours we can also pick up containers at night here - something we do frequently.” Premium Service is an added extra used by DHL for specific customers. Maaten and Van Wensveen: “It has to fit with the total picture, after all it does involve added costs.” However, these costs are recouped in various ways; for example, DHL no longer needs to compile two customs documents. The containers travel on to TCT Venlo on ECT’s customs permit. “A customs document has a limited shelf life. If we, as DHL, have to draw up our own document in Rotterdam, we run the risk of having to make a new one prior to the onward journey further inland out of Venlo.”
Guaranteed Lead Times
“TCT Venlo is a neutral terminal, which means we can organise our own onward transport.”
For about a year now ECT has been offering the Premium Service product as part of its Extended Gate concept to clients who want to secure optimal inland transport to TCT Venlo. The service means that ECT takes responsibility for ensuring that containers arriving at the deep-sea terminal are immediately transported onwards by rail to the hinterland. Customs documents are not required, and what’s more, ECT guarantees the lead times. Reasons enough for Dimitri Maaten, Inland Logistics Transport Manager at DHL Global Forwarding and his colleague Johan van Wensveen, Manager Logistic Competence Center Ocean Freight, to help develop the Premium Service and to become one of its first clients. “Venlo is an important hub for us,” they explain. “Within a 50 kilometre radius, we serve both Dutch and German customers. Using the inland terminal makes it far easier for us to meet their classic wish for container delivery to the doorstep at eight sharp in the morning. Direct trucking from the seaport is becoming less and less attractive as an option, both with regards to reliability and environmental concerns. The more we can direct via thick transport flows to the hinterland, the better. The train has proven itself to be the most sustainable transport mode in this case and for DHL ‘Go Green’ is a major consideration.”
Premium Service Both managers say they are very satisfied with the level of services provision and the opportunities on offer at
Most important of all, say Maaten and Van Wensveen, are the guaranteed lead times the Premium Service offers. “At the point that the seagoing vessel approaches port, time suddenly becomes a major factor for our customers. Depending on the call size, the ship will spend some 12 to 48 hours alongside the quay at the deep-sea terminal. We at DHL can’t see at which point our containers are offloaded. But ECT can, and is able to take action.” For customers for whom time is crucial, DHL is therefore happy to hand over the responsibility for organising the onward transport to ECT. “Currently we give ECT a weekly planning for the Premium Service containers. ECT ensures that these containers are made available to us at TCT Venlo at the latest one day prior to the date included on the roster. If necessary we ourselves can already clear the containers through customs during the Rotterdam-Venlo journey. All in all we shorten lead times one or more days.” For DHL, the question of how ECT gets the containers from the deep-sea to the inland terminal is effectively irrelevant. Maaten and Van Wensveen welcome the fact however that TCT Venlo will very soon have its own inland shipping terminal in addition to the rail link (see features page 11-13). “That’s going to make returning empty containers to the depots a lot easier,” they note. “Unlike rail, inland shipping allows you to do it directly.” From a service point of view DHL is also happy that a number of the Venlo rail shuttles now not only call at the ECT Delta Terminal on the Maasvlakte, but also run directly to the Euromax Terminal.
Cross-border Extended Gates The global forwarder would love to apply the way of working which ECT has made possible at TCT Venlo across borders. That’s why Maaten and Van Wensveen are happy to take part in the pilot ECT has just launched for an Extended Gate and Premium Service at the inland terminal of DeCeTe Duisburg in Germany’s industrial Ruhr region. In this pilot containers cross the Dutch - German border without the need for customs documents. “We see a big future in this. It could create an important corridor to the German market,” the DHL managers say. “As inland logistics within DHL has an European set-up, this Extended Gate will lead to an additional advantage for the transport organisation of DHL Germany as well. The set-up of DHL’s European inland organisation is improving our customer service; the close cooperation of the different counties benefits mutual clients. In the case of TCT Belgium too, we’re therefore more than willing to test an Extended Gate this year.” 19