03 May Seatrade Maritime: INTTRA Sees Digitalisation Kicking Off This Year

This is the year that digitalisation will rapidly come to the container line industry, online platform INTTRA believes. An INTTRA survey found that 82% of respondents at its Technology Summit in Hamburg said process automation and digitalisation initiatives were underway, 53% are focused on blockchain and 51% are working to improve reporting and analytics.

“It is clear, based on the feedback from our attendees and the momentum in our business that the industry has moved over the digitalization tipping point. This is the year of moving from innovation to action,” said ceo John Fay.

Other key findings included 46% of respondents saying that the biggest container shipping challenge for carriers was data sharing across the supply chain, while 31% thought reporting and analytics was a big problem.

In terms of turning innovation to action, 45% said lack of in-house IT resources was a challenge while 40% saw a lack of budget as a problem.

“INTTRA can help address the needs discussed at our Technology Summit and highlighted in our survey,” said president and coo Inna Kuznetsova. “By listening to our industry, we can design products that elevate key issues for customers. A great example is an automated management of contracted rates that we are starting to pilot as a way to tackle a difficult challenge highlighted during the summit.

INTTRA has announced a rates pilot intended to optimize the management of negotiated and contracted ocean transport rates, overcoming the current system for managing rates which often leads to errors as high as 30-45% with incorrect freight invoices due to the way contract rate changes are managed and communicated. The pilot programme follows a successful proof of concept that involved a major carrier and INTTRA’s Blockchain Network Services.

“Many customers name data sharing across the industry as another challenge,” adds Kuznetsova. “As supply chains get digitalized, new opportunities to connect various sources create a foundation for better visibility and optimization. Our advances in network services, including API-enabled connections, help our customers to accelerate the digital transformation and overcome hurdles,” she concluded.

Posted 02 May 2018

http://www.seatrade-maritime.com/news/europe/inttra-sees-digitalisation-kicking-off-this-year.html