INTTRA ACT SI Re-Engineers Ocean Shipping Business Process for Greater Collaboration and Improved Work Flow
November 19, 2007
PARSIPPANY, N.J., November 19, 2007 - With the introduction of INTTRA ACT SI, shippers and forwarders can now create and manage shipping instructions (SI) via the Web for improved work flow, allowing all supply chain partners to easily collaborate online.
INTTRA, the largest e-commerce platform for the ocean industry, offers a range of e-commerce products to help shippers and forwarders plan, process and manage their documentation with their carriers. With more than 210,000 container orders initiated on the portal each week, the INTTRA platform represents 10 percent of annual global ocean container trade.
INTTRA ACT SI enhances the already popular INTTRA Desktop Shipping Instruction product, “providing a range of new features that dramatically improve collaboration between international trade professionals and their ocean carriers, whether they are members of INTTRA or not. By creating one process for all parties to the shipment to utilize, INTTRA ACT SI vastly improves access to information, as well as boosting data visibility for the shipper, the forwarder and the carrier. Work flow becomes seamless,” said John DeBenedette, INTTRA’s Vice President, Commercial.
Explains David Burns, INTTRA Product Manager, Documentation Products, “INTTRA ACT SI provides information-sharing capabilities both within the enterprise and throughout a customer’s supply chain. Now users can interact with multiple carriers and share information on all shipments, allowing everyone on the team to back each other up, to check status and take action when any one team member is unavailable,” he said.
Of particular importance for INTTRA’s global customers is the fact that INTTRA ACT SI creates a collaborative platform for trading partners to interact. “With this platform, access to shipping instruction data can be granted automatically to anyone who is a party to the bill of lading. This is very important in countries such as Brazil where the custom house brokers are mandated by law to submit SI's and where the shipper must approve the SI before it is submitted,” added Burns.
According to DeBenedette, INTTRA ACT SI was designed “following extensive user feedback from customers and carriers around the world. Users told us they wanted to work the same way as before, only faster. Although they didn’t want to drastically alter their business processes, they were seeking a far more efficient way to send SIs to their carriers. Besides which, both parties wanted to be able to develop and track SIs as they were being processed.”
“With INTTRA ACT SI, users can keep track of all of their SIs online with status updates provided. The release of this product marks a major step forward for a traditionally inefficient process. And INTTRA ACT SI allows all parties to a shipment to receive shipping-instruction data electronically, meaning less chance for errors caused from re-keying data sent by fax,” DeBenedette said. Plus, he added, there is no software to download and install.
Product Features:
- Shipments are managed in one place with the “My SI” feature. Plus, shipments are organized the way the user likes: by customer, by port, by carrier or by date.
- Shippers and forwarders ensure that all SIs make the cutoff through automated access to date and time of carrier receipt.
- Re-keying of data is reduced or eliminated with “1 click” import of SI data from a spreadsheet.
- Users save time by entering cargo information once for single-commodity/multi-container shipments.
- Users save time with repeat shipments with templates that can be re-used again and again.
- Users work in their own native language with support for English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Thai (with additional languages planned for future release).
- Users manage all company shipments in one place with the “My Company SI” feature, allowing everyone on the team to back each other up, to check status and take action when one team member is unavailable.
- Secure information sharing tools provide access to shipment information for all parties to the bill of lading (B/L).
- Users send shipping instructions to all carriers and NVOCCs (Non Vessel Operating Common Carriers) with INTTRA Universal Carrier Access (UCA) -- one process for INTTRA members as well as non-members.
About INTTRA
INTTRA, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., is a leading global provider of
e-commerce solutions to ocean carriers and their customers. INTTRA professionals work with customers to streamline and standardize their shipping processes, applying their e-commerce knowledge of the shipping industry for customers in markets worldwide.
More than 210,000 container orders are initiated on the INTTRA platform each week, representing 10 percent of global ocean container trade.
INTTRA’s e-commerce platform offers a comprehensive range of e-commerce tools, including: Tender, Sailing Schedules, Booking, Shipping Instructions, Bill of Lading, Track & Trace, and Reports. Accessing the INTTRA platform is simple, using any combination of their channel solutions: INTTRA-Link (EDI-based, system-to-system connection), INTTRA-Desktop (off-line PC application), or INTTRA-Act (web-based application).
INTTRA’s carrier network includes, Alianca, ANL, CMA CGM, CSAV, CSAV NORASIA, Deutsche Afrika-Linien, Emirates Shipping Line, FANZL, Hamburg Sud, Hanjin Shipping Co., Hapag-Lloyd, “K” Line, Libra, Maersk Line, MCC Transport Pte Ltd., MISC, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., NYK Line, Safmarine, Senator Lines, and United Arab Shipping Company.
For further information visit www.inttra.com. Or contact Andy Barrons, INTTRA Vice President of Marketing, at +1.973.263.5100 or email him at: andy.barrons@inttra.com.