Port of Antwerp
Belgium: foodcareplus announces results of third reefer handling inspection program
foodcareplus, the Antwerp-based international logistics service provider specialized in the shipping of perishables, emphasizes that the total logistics cost is more than just a freight bill. As one of the sub-projects under its plus|3 program, foodcareplus has identified a number of aspects that play a crucial role in the value added cold chain. One of these is the quality and speed of services rendered by the reefer container depots that are subcontracted by the shipping lines.
Results from the report
The enclosed half year summary uses processed statistics for the throughput of 1,205 randomly selected reefer shipment transactions via the port of Antwerp between January and June 2014 with 34 different shipping lines, categorized under “A” and “B”. The latter are carriers operating limited services, including specialized services that place reefer boxes on deck.
The average waiting time to queue, inspect/approve and pick up a reefer box for all reefer depots is 50 minutes, 5 minutes longer than the previous released half-year summary. On the other hand, statistics show that 13.78 percent of released reefer containers have an issue reported (mostly concerning dirt, odours and/or damp), versus 18.38 in the previous released half-year summary, a significant improvement. It is also notable that there are important performance differences between reefer container depots and shipping lines. When it comes to the average handling time, the best performing depot handles the full release process in about 24 minutes, where the worst averages 56 minutes. For shipping lines, the best average time for the release process is approximately 33 minutes, while the worst performing shipping line averages an hour and fifteen minutes. The same counts for the quality of containers released. The best performing depot has no issues with 99 percent of the released containers (which is 6 percent higher than in the previous release), while the worst performing scores slightly above 62 percent (which rose with 6 percent comparing to the second summary).
The best performers
For the period of January - June 2014 and based on its own scoring methodology of handling quality and speed, foodcareplus announced that Handico (Linkeroever) container depot scores the highest in the port of Antwerp, followed closely by BNFW and Handico. The highest average score for the “A” category shipping lines is OOCL, followed closely by Hapag-Lloyd and NYK. Seago and Great White Fleet are the best performers in the “B” category.
Inspection program roll-out
The plus|3 program of foodcareplus aims to optimize low-risk shipping, operational efficiency and industry expertise in order to achieve a new working model between carriers and service providers. The plus|3 inspection initiative was launched in Belgium first in order to test all procedures and systems.
Special frameworks and service level agreements with foodcareplus approved transporters and intermodal operators have been put in place in order to facilitate the completion of the inspection forms.
The main objective of the inspection program is to advise carriers about preferred container depots at the time of booking with a shipping line in order to improve lead times and minimize the risk of claims. Additionally, it allows foodcareplus to report the contracted reefer depots’ performance to the shipping lines, allowing them to benchmark the performance of their subcontractors. foodcareplus is developing mobile applications in order to automate the process.
Because of the success of the program in Belgium, it will be expanded into the Netherlands in 2015 and Germany in 2016. Based on these statistics published by foodcareplus, the industry will be able to compare results between North-European ports.
For more information:
Steve Alaerts
foodcareplus
Tel: +32 (0)3 242 91 54
Email: s.alaerts@foodcareplus.com
www.foodcareplus.com