Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG improves truck handling at its Hamburg container terminals
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) has been improving truck handling at its Hamburg container terminals since 2011 with a range of measures. In future, truck journeys to the terminals will be distributed evenly throughout the day. This will improve the facilities’ efficiency and reduce traffic bottlenecks on the public road network, the company said in its press release.
HHLA has been implementing the “Fuhre 2.0” programme, which improves the truck handling at the terminals and consists of a range of individual measures, since 2011:
Self-service terminals: In just 130 seconds, HGV drivers can check in their own containers.
OCR in-gate: The optical character recognition gate automatically records the truck’s number plate and container number, among others.
Monitor check: Damage and hazardous goods stickers are recorded during the journey to the check-in gate.
Pre-registration of containers via the TR 02 Version 14 programme: After pre-registration of containers by the dispatchers, the terminal transmits the reliable, actual status of the container in question. The haulage company can thus avoid unnecessary journeys.
After these measures have all been implemented, HGV drivers will no longer have to exit their vehicles until the point that the containers are delivered, significantly speeding up truck handling.
To do this, pre-registration of transport information is required before vehicles can be handled at the terminal. The TR 02 Version 14 interface is used for the pre-registration. In advance, the dispatcher at the haulage company provides the data electronically for the container delivery or collection. When the terminal gives the green light – i.e., when all the necessary data is available and the handling process can proceed smoothly – the truck can set off. As a result of this early transfer of information, less data has to be checked during the handling process. This also further accelerates the process and avoids unnecessary journeys. Preparations for this measure are already underway.
The requirement to pre-register details is a prerequisite for another measure – the slot-booking process. In future, the terminal and haulage company will agree on a time window in which a container can be delivered or collected. Within this time window, the terminal will agree to handling, which will increase reliability for the haulage company by a huge degree. At the same time, a differentiated priority model will give HGV drivers the flexibility they need. By agreeing on appointments, the burden on truck handling will be distributed much more evenly throughout the day, reducing peak loads. Previously, between five and 250 containers were processed per hour per terminal, depending on the time of day.