Article • 04.12.2024
Slot booking for fewer traffic jams
Manage capacities better
Truck slot bookings provide effective routing of traffic. Backlogs and waiting times at major logistics hubs can be significantly minimized. This is demonstrated by the tried-and-tested systems operated by DAKOSY at the seaports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven and by allivate at Frankfurt Cargo Airport. Slot bookings benefit truckers, terminals and logistics companies, transport and road users as well as the port and airport infrastructure all in equal measure.
Key figures for slot bookings in the port of Hamburg
- Operations at 11 terminals and 3 authorities
- Currently about 15,000 truck transports per day
- Approximately 400 connected trucking companies, more than 22 software providers and roughly 40,000 directly connected individual drivers
Key figures for slot bookings in the Frankfurt Cargo Airport
- Door managment in use at four handling agents and one forwarder in CargoCity Süd
- Approximately 1,000 freight forwarders and trucking companies connected
- An average of 3,500 slots handled per week, peaking at over 5,000 slots
- 50% of the slots are booked only 1.5 hours in advance
- The shortest slot duration is 15 minutes, and 80% of slots are scheduled for up to 60 minutes
Since 2017, trucking companies calling at the seaport terminals in Hamburg have been required to book a time slot for handling. What the changeover has achieved can be heard on the traffic broadcasts. “Before the new system was introduced, there were regular radio reports that the traffic situation in the port was leading to gridlock on the ‘Köhlbrandbrücke’ bridge or the A7,” recalls Nicolai Port, Director of the Modes of Transport Department at DAKOSY, adding, "You don’t hear those kind of reports anymore. Thanks to the booking platform, the pick-up and delivery of containers at the terminals no longer causes traffic jams."
As a rule, every truck entering the Port of Hamburg has a slot reserved for it. That's an average of 15,000 vehicles per day. “We exchange up to one million electronic messages daily,” says Port, outlining the dimensions. Participants include the terminals of Eurogate, HHLA, C. Steinweg and a variety of depots. Authorities also use the process. Customs allocates time slots at the container inspection facility (CPA), and the two inspection centers run by the Veterinary Office Border Control also use this method to request goods inspections.
What has proven effective in the area of slot management can also be demonstrated using the example of seaports. Reservations can be made free of charge three working days in advance. “Currently, bookings tend to be made at short notice,” says Port. This process mainly runs in the background and is automated. Many transport companies are connected to the process via electronic interfaces and interact directly from their respective transport management systems (TMS). With UNIKAT GE, DAKOSY has also launched its own software solution for container management at the seaports.
Clear terminal processing time frames make route planning easier
Trucking companies without their own TMS can book via the Truckgate web application. This is available in nine languages and is easy to use, and reservations can even be made directly at the port. The time slots are allocated on the hour and are valid for 60 minutes. There is also a grace period of plus/minus 30 minutes during which the driver is considered to still be on time. On the Truckgate website (https://www.truckgate.de), the capacity allocation is displayed for all users to see. At Eurogate CTH, HHLA CTA and CTB, dispatchers and drivers can even see how long it is currently taking to process a shipment on site and call up average times from the last four weeks in order to use the data for route planning and optimization.
Cargo handling companies can also quickly adapt to the varying capacity levels. Port explains how it works: “If the situation at the terminal is relaxed, the grace period for the reserved time slot can be extended by an additional hour before and after the scheduled slot time. This is activated as Prio2 in the system.” This functionality has grown out of practical experience and the needs of users. In the meantime, it is impossible to imagine everyday port life without the assignment of appointments for terminal access.
The next stages of expansion
From Port's perspective, the physical expansion of the booking platform is only logical: “With every additional location we connect, we are moving towards a comprehensive and uniform slot management system for all northern German seaports.” The booking system will also be interlinked with new services in the handling process which are currently being developed. Two projects are in the pipeline. The first is for the digital authentication of drivers when entering the terminal. The second project is to replace import release orders with a digital Authorization for Pick-Up in future. Both processes are to be linked to slot booking in order to ensure the highest possible level of security.
“With every additional location we connect, we are moving towards a comprehensive and uniform slot management system for all northern German seaports.”
From the seaport to the air cargo terminal
The seaport slot booking process is applicable to a wide range of scenarios and modes of transport. At Frankfurt Airport, DAKOSY, together with the airport operator Fraport and the local air cargo community, has proven that the platform is also suitable for air freight. As a module of the FAIR@Link cargo community system, door management is already an integral part of the digital processes in CargoCity Süd. Since the beginning of the year, it has been operated by allivate, a joint venture between DAKOSY and Fraport.
Extremely short-notice and very little standardization
Allivate Managing Director Martina Schikorr highlights the challenges: “Air freight is extremely volatile in terms of time. There are only a few hours for pre-planning. In addition, it is important to use the limited infrastructure as efficiently as possible in order to reduce handling times.” In contrast to the procedures at seaports, it is not containers but rather general cargo, sheet metal and pallets which are the primary focus of handling at the Frankfurt air freight hub. Schikorr illustrates how few standardized goods are handled: “Over 80 percent are made up of bulk goods shipments.”
According to the related loading requirements, the planned time slots need to be adjusted flexibly. “These usually vary between 15 minutes and two hours, depending on the quantity, weight, type of goods, vehicle type and other parameters,” explains Martina Schikorr.
Additional usages: door management
The handling agents based in CargoCity Süd also use the booking information to manage their doors. This is because not every door is used universally. The doors meet different needs - for example, import, export, truck or sprinter delivery, dangerous goods or express freight. "Using system interfaces, the handling agents can transfer the booking data to their respective warehouse management systems and use it for further processing. This saves a lot of work in terms of documentation,” concludes Schikorr.
Linked to the access barrier
Digitalization can already be found at the entrance to CargoCity Süd. A license plate recognition system is installed at gates 31 and 32. This recognizes pre-registered vehicles as they pass through. Manual driver registration is no longer necessary. The barrier opens without the vehicles having to come to a complete stop, making long waiting times at this potential bottleneck a thing of the past. The principle of automated access control extends to the airport premises. The barriers of certain individual handling agents are also linked to the FAIR@Link slot management system. In the ideal case, pre-registered truckers can remain behind the wheel until they reach the door for loading or unloading. The targeted management of processes also relieves the strain on companies' limited handling space.
Expansion to forwarders
Slot booking has become an accepted standard at the handling agents Frankfurt Cargo Services (FCS), Çelebi LUG and Swissport. Now the first freight forwarder in CargoCity Süd is introducing the process, once again demonstrating the versatility of the flexible solution. Following a pilot phase, DB Schenker is currently in the process of integrating the FAIR@Link module into its regular operations.
"Using system interfaces, the handling agents can transfer the booking data to their respective warehouse management systems and use it for further processing. This saves a lot of work in terms of documentation.”
All-inclusive approach instead of stand-alone application
A global approach is needed to make slot booking systems on this scale a success. As DAKOSY Excutive Board member Ulrich Wrage describes it: “The platforms in the seaports and at Frankfurt Airport are fully integrated into the handling processes at the respective locations. In concrete terms, this means that when slots are allocated, an automated check is carried out to determine whether the freight is ready for collection, cleared and duty-free. Only when the digital traffic light displays a green signal can a time slot be booked. No truckers make useless trips.” And there's more. For example, it is possible to cross-check at the terminal entrance whether the driver is also the person authorized to pick up the goods, and barrier access can be controlled via the integrated license plate recognition system.
Performance at high capacity is decisive
The DAKOSY and allivate systems described above also serve as a model for other traffic bottleneck points. Just recently, Anton Mattle, Governor of Tyrol, made a visit to see the process in the port of Hamburg in action. He wants to improve the management of truck traffic on the Brenner Pass between Tyrol and Italy. Between 6,000 and 10,000 trucks cross through the pass at the border every day. The performance of such a system would therefore have to be comparable to that of the Port of Hamburg, with up to 12,000 vehicles a day. Wrage considers slot bookings at critical junctions to be fundamentally worth considering, for example at points with bridges with load limits or tunnels.
