As part of a pilot, Hapag-Lloyd will be the first shipping company to use an innovative, cloud-based stowage-planning software developed by the U.S. supplier XVELA.

A cooperation agreement was concluded with the partner company based in Oakland, California.

As a result, stowage-planning and cargo data of individual ships in ports will be available in real-time for both the shipping company and the terminal. In this way, the shipping company will be able to see the progress of loading and unloading operations on an ongoing basis and can deploy its ships more efficiently. For terminals, there will be continual transparency regarding the state of stowage planning for an expected ship, which will allow them to allot equipment and staff in a timely and reliable fashion. The aim is to reduce unexpected changes at short notice in the coastal schedule as well as unnecessary waiting times for both sides.

“The more transparency there is throughout the transport chain, the more efficiently everyone involved can make plans for and employ their assets and resources,” said Jörn Springer, head of Hapag-Lloyd’s Fleet Support Center. “We anticipate that this new software will give us important operative advantages. Cloud-based solutions such as XVELA can provide us with real-time data, making it possible for us to considerably improve the exchange of information with terminals.”

Hapag-Lloyd’s Fleet Support Center has existed since 2013. Located in Hamburg, where the shipping company is headquartered, it keeps an eye on the entire fleet of both owned and chartered vessels. In recent years, the center’s 10-person team and the technology employed there have been able to achieve considerable savings, particularly in vessel fuel consumption.

“We are continually searching for additional possibilities for optimizing the processes of the fleet while at sea and in ports,” said Springer. “We hope that the innovative approach in stowage planning will provide fresh impetus particularly regarding times in port.”