Shipper (Draft)
Related Needs
Stakeholders expressed a number of needs specifically related to improved methods associated with goods shipment processes, including:
- Improve shipment visibility across modes, and between/among industry logistic service providers and across geographic boundaries;
- Employ interoperable logistic systems, for example: access to the same information at an overseas factory, on a ship, or at a rail yard in the U.S. and Canada based on common identification and back office systems and standards; and
- Track shipment location/status in real-time, including information on container/truck location, port terminal operations, rail terminal operations, pickup and delivery warehouse and distribution centre operations, etc.
Current Environment
The Current Environment, while incorporating some technological improvements in recent years, is still primarily focused on the following shipper/logistics planning and implementation methods:
- Use of email and fax to place and confirm orders for shipments;
- Each party in the logistics supply chain uses its own “stove-pipe” information systems; some have outputs to web sites which customers can access;
- Shipment visibility for the truck mode – the location and the status of the container – is maintained larger through phone calls from the third party logistics provider (3PL) to the different entities involved (e.g. trucking fleet dispatcher); and
- Information with the rail mode on container status is done through legacy Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) output files from the rail line.
Smart Corridor
The Smart Corridor should incorporate new and emerging logistics and shipment visibility concepts, including:
- Continuous and consistent information sharing between intermodal logistics partners (and between modes) across the supply chain through the use of integration systems/services such as Electronic Freight Management (EFM) open system or various equivalent vendor solutions;
- Shipment visibility across modes is accomplished through the Web Services information-sharing applications of EFM; each party (e.g. trucking company, railroad, shipper, consignee, 3PL) adopts EFM, which provides an integrated platform for all parties to continually assess shipment location/status, and to plan for the next steps in the logistics process;
- Ordering/Delivery/Acceptance/Payment functions are managed electronically;
- Provision of Daily Status Reports/regular status reporting via emails to all critical parties; and
- Automated integration with terminal appointment systems for container pickup and deliveries.
- Shipment visibility across modes is accomplished through the Web Services information-sharing applications of EFM; each party (e.g. trucking company, railroad, shipper, consignee, 3PL) adopts EFM, which provides an integrated platform for all parties to continually assess shipment location/status, and to plan for the next steps in the logistics process;