IAS to expand virtual container yard nationwide

IAS to expand virtual container yard nationwide    International Asset Systems said Monday it plans to launch a nationwide “virtual container yard” in March that will allow ocean carriers and shippers to exchange empty import boxes to handle export loads without first returning them to the port terminal or rail ramp.
   By using Web-based technology to post available containers and locations, empty containers can be turned in the street and directly taken by a trucking firm from the receiver’s loading dock to the outbound shipper’s facility, thereby eliminating two truck trips to the port for delivery and pick up of the empty box.
   Port authorities have started a handful of matchmaking services to help reduce congestion at crowded port facilities and on highways, as well as cut down on diesel pollution. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach provide a virtual container yard developed by IAS and available through the eModal online terminal communication system. A similar system is under development at the Port of New York-New Jersey. So far the number of container exchanges done each day is very limited due to confusion on how to apportion fees, the imbalance between import and export loads and trucking rates, the different types of equipment used by exporters and importers, and reservations by established motor carriers about working with independent truckers that don’t have the same business process controls for safety and security.
   Now Oakland-based IAS wants to create a national version of these localized container transfer systems to serve customers that move containers in and out of different ports or to domestic locations.
   Ocean carriers are interested in expanding the limited pilot programs subsidized by ports to create a viable, long-term commercial system that can help them systematically reduce costs by handling hundreds of street turns without paperwork-intensive processes, IAS Chief Executive Paul Crinks told Shippers’ News Wire at the National Industrial Transportation League/Intermodal Association of North America conference in Fort Lauderdale this week.
   The IAS system will be integrated into carriers’ terminal management systems and automatically update the virtual container yard system with information about the availability of empty containers. To overcome reluctance to share containers with any and all comers, the system will plug in business rules set by each customer to identify suitable trucking candidates for a container exchange in the field. Filters will also distinguish carrier-owned containers from leased equipment or units targeted for sale. The system will also tie into mobile tracking technology to show a trucker’s location.
   IAS said it estimates that ocean carriers could save roughly $200 per transaction by reusing containers in the field compared with the need for processing more moves through the terminal gates, parking and storing the containers, and additional wear and tear on equipment. Over time, the system could reduce the need for more equipment by more efficiently using available assets.
   Crinks said the IAS would use a phased geographic deployment of its nationwide container management service. IAS, which provides other asset management and information services to the container industry, has a virtual container yard project in the Midwest where it matches up about 600 to 700 containers to the West Coast, Crinks said.