In a move which should prove interesting at the delay-stricken Port of Durban, Maersk Line is developing a new system that will provide customers with an estimate of when they can pick up their goods, rather than just an estimate of when a vessel will arrive in port.
Known as Cargo Availability Time, or CAT for short, it is the line’s best estimate of when cargo will become available for the shipper to pick up.
“The CAT project is based on customers requesting to know when containers are expected to be available for pick up,” said Mike Andres,who is in charge of the development of CAT. “A vessel ETA is irrelevant to the customer and forces them to come up with their own estimations for supply chain planning. CAT standardises the approach and will provide customers with the best possible cargo availability date and time estimate using real data,” he said.
When it is launched CAT will be visible to the customer in his booking confirmation (as an OTD promise) and arrival notice. “ETA will still be part of these documents and remains within our systems. However, CAT will be adjusted to take into account holidays, terminal gate hours of operations, how long it takes to perform port and inland vessel and yard operations and other factors that affect the availability of the container for pick-up,” he added.
