Future Life of a Long Haul Container

You need to make a booking, but when was the last time you used a travel agent, its online to see where the best offers are. Some will book with an agent, others will go directly to a particular lines website and see what their options are. Will it be economy class, or premium, will be be direct route, or longer route. Are you flexible on the departure dates, or is the departure date, or arrival date fixed.

Once I have my selection firm, I have a recap of what i have booked and a reminder of what documents I will need, as well as what I need to be careful of when packing, what I must declare and what I cannot pack. Its my responsibility to ensure everything is ready and correct, that the documents are done and everything is presented correctly on the day.

No, I am not talking about booking my next holiday, I am talking about booking an international container shipment, although this is exactly the same procedure, and in the very near future will be just as easy. We will likely even be able to pay for the movement with a credit card or crypto-currency of some sort. We will also get similar updates and tracking messages as one receives when preparing or travelling on a flight. 'Container MRSK 424 5798-1 now loading at Berth 3, please deliver to Pier 1 Terminal 4 immediately!' may not be as far away as it seems for many, certainly there is already now, little difference between the booking a flight or container online, and the rise of the online freight engines can be compared to the expedias or booking.coms. With the increasing seemless data interchange, even extending more and more into the customs clearance realm, it is now only a matter of time until the entire document chain is a single document filled in and passed from beginning to end, with no person involved in between.

So what will People do?

Well, they will be responsible for monitoring and change or crisis management, as well as setting up the initial logistics chain and regular updates to it. Today, the majority of challenges and errors in the process are human error, and generally very simple ones, such as missing or transposed numbers, misdeclared cargo, or simple typing mistakes. The use of a single document, flowing through the system eliminates many of these if entered correctly the first time, while moving the risk and liability squarely back into the path of the shipper or their agent inputting this information in the first place.

'Aye, there's the rub,' to quote Hamlet, is it better to take arms against a sea of troubles, by inputting all the data yourself as a shipper, or to simply ignore them and blame an agent, well that may be the way currently, but the reality is this agent seldom accepts liability, leaving bad feelings and arguements in a mistakes wake.

So the solution can, long term, only be a single input into the booking, updated as the shipment comes closer and progresses, with the entire onus of the shipment placed on the shipper or booking party, moving the need for the expertise away from any agent, and directly into the shippers arms. The word, borrowed from the engineering feel, thus becomes 'Subject Matter Expert'. With the Logistics and shipping industry being as large and as wide as it is, it is impossible for a single person to be an expert on the entire industry, and shippers will then, as they should now, contact and rely on specialists to assist them as and where needed. Need a specialist on Indian Customs practices, or a Specialist on Remote area Shipments? a specialist on Hazardous shipments or Australian Import practices? When you have an automated supply chain, it is then a matter of bring in, or calling on the relevant specialist to set things up and put procedures in place for this for you, and then let the system run itself, much the same as you hire a SAP consultant when installing or modifying your SAP running.

Recently, watching the documentary, 'The Secret Life of the Long Haul Flight,' I was reminded that the first air hostesses when they were introduced all had to be qualified Nurses, such was the discomfort and illnesses encountered by passengers on the first long haul flights, which often took several days and flew at low altitude of 2000m no further than approximately 400km per leg. The flight from Sydney to London was a 9 days with excellent food, but extremely bumpy, as flying at that low altitude, one was at the mercy of all the weather enroute. 9 days of torture, with over 50 percent of passengers vomitting more than once and requiring medical attention. Let us hope that as the container shipping now matures, shippers do not require the same amount of attention, and that if they do, they have access to the right subject matter experts to assist them for each of their specific 'illnesses.'