Starting on the 3rd of June, the Border Veterinary Office in the Port of Hamburg will be connected to the electronic slot booking system for trucks. Trucking companies and drivers can then use the system to book time slots for inspection at the veterinary office. Long traffic jams at the two dispatch points in the Port of Hamburg will become a thing of the past. The Border Veterinary Office is the first agency to be connected to the system developed by DAKOSY, which has been in use at the container terminals for nearly two years.

"The idea of a scheduling system has been something we’ve been working towards for quite some time. In this respect, we are now very pleased with the introduction of the slot management solution," says Dr. Bettina Gerulat, Head of the Border Veterinary Office in Hamburg. Up to now, trucks arrived at the veterinary office without prior notification, so it was very difficult to schedule things properly. This often led to prolonged waiting times. The aim of the veterinary office connection is to improve the planning of truck arrivals and thus optimize handling and inspection tasks.

"At peak times, processing was often a logistical challenge due to the high volume," relates Gerulat. "The slot allocation should now round off the peaks. Previously, our employees had to remain on standby for incoming deliveries and were not able to devote themselves to other tasks during this time. Now the time slot management system allows a more predictable workflow and a more reliable utilization."

"The slot booking system has proven to be an effective way of avoiding congestion in the port. The extension of the system from the container terminals to other users is therefore the next logical step to further optimize processes in the Port of Hamburg", says DAKOSY CEO Ulrich Wrage. At the three container terminals of Hamburger Hafen und Lagerhaus AG (HHLA) as well as the Eurogate and Eurokombi terminals, slot booking has been in use for nearly two years. The empty container depots C. Steinweg (Süd-West Terminal), Hamburger Container Service (HCS), Container Maintenance Repair Hamburg (CMR) and Progeco are also integrated into the system.

The time factor plays a decisive role in the more than 2,300 import inspections per month. The coordination of the dispatch processing reduces the workload of more than just the veterinary office's employees. All participants in the transport chain can plan their time frames and tasks more effectively.