TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................... 2
GOALS ........................................................................................................................................... 2
SOLUTIONS .................................................................................................................................. 3
1. To combat port congestion due to improper scheduling ......................................................... 3
1.1 Live location sharing of the goods provided by the port authority to the forwarders ....... 3
1.2 Live and customizable (as per interest area) newsfeed ..................................................... 4
1.3 AI for cargo arrangement at Container freight station (CFS) ............................................ 6
2. To combat document tracking, recording and approval issues ............................................ 6
2.1 Automated updates, checking and approval issuance mechanism ................................... 6
2.2 Reduction in the number of documents ............................................................................ 9
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 9
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 9
APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................... 10
 19.11.2018

OVERVIEW
The shipping industry is highly dependent on the economic activity of the world. In the face of
growing world trade, this industry is in demand. Unfortunately, it has not adapted to new
technologies at a pace similar to the growth of world trade. This has resulted in numerous
problems of which our research paper will focus on the following :

1. Port congestion due to improper scheduling

a. Inefficient transfer of information to inland transportation
b. Delay in custom clearance due to lead time in document preparation and approval
c. Weather issues delaying loading activities or the liners altogether
d. Labour strikes

These problems generally occur due to insufficiency in information about port

activities circulated within the stakeholders. Once the forwarder has delivered his
goods in the CFS (refer appendix 1), he is completely dependent on his associates in
the port for any information required about the status of the goods.

2. Document tracking, recording and approval issues

Documents required for exporting a box of cargo (refer appendix 2 for description)
1. Commercial invoice
2. Packing list
3. Certificate of inspection
4. Insurance policy
5. Shipping invoice
6. Bill of lading
7. Certificate of origin
8. Shipping Instructions

All these documents take several days to be prepared and sent to the concerned
authorities. These lead time forces approvers of these documents to sit idle till the
documents arrive and once they arrive, be overburdened with work. This leads to drop in
efficiency

GOALS
Our goal shall be to conceptualize the use of technologies like Internet of things, Artificial
Intelligence and Blockchain to counter the above mentioned problems.
SOLUTIONS
Our solution here comes in the form of a software Transpro 1.0 that has the following features to
boost competitiveness, strategy building and productivity.

1. This software will be first to link information across different

ports in the world.
2. It will have customizable live news feeds that will allow
organizations to devise strategies for future projects.
Unique Service design For example <Maersk starts cargo liners on new route from
Mumbai to Indonesia. Sea transport time slashed by 2 days>
3. Live location sharing of goods in the port shall be provided
4. Features like publishing custom clearance as soon as it is
completed will facilitate hassle-free and faster logistics.
1. It will have a separate login for each forwarder having a CFS at
that port.
2. Status of goods in-transit and projections of schedules based on
Cost
real time data will be provided. It will help shippers/ consigners to
save on demurrage if they know that a ship they expected to reach
the port at a certain date is running late.
1. Transpro’s ‘route advisor’ will suggest different dispatch
locations within the country such that the transportation cost and
Location time is optimized.
2. Forwarders will hence be advised to use a combination of modes
of transport to satisfy their project requirements.
1. It will provide interfaces for port authorities to check and publish
document approvals.
Quick Response
2. This will keep all stakeholders of that cargo informed on real time
basis about the goods being shipped.
When Transpro gives a news update of delay in arrival of a cargo
liner, forwarders can be bestowed the benefit of flexibility of sending
goods outwards from their warehouse at a later stage than scheduled
Flexibility
to avoid of demurrage charges at the port or atleast reduce
congestion. Moreover, the consignee can be quickly informed about
the delay.
Transpro will make the life of people simpler because the updates
People/ Managers that they once upon a time had to take/give over repetitive phone
calls will be communicated online

Following are the ways in which the features of Transpro 1.0 shall function to address the
problem areas identified in the ‘Overview’ section

1. To combat port congestion due to improper scheduling

1.1 Live location sharing of the goods provided by the port authority to the forwarders
1.1.1 Each time a container is allotted to a shipper, it shall be fitted with a sensor
 1.1.2 This sensor shall remain on the body of the container till it is loaded on the ship. This
will help the port authorities and freight forwarders to keep track of their stuffed
containers at all times before being loaded on to the ship.
1.1.3 The forwarder will receive an encrypted link which shall be live till his cargo leaves
the CFS. When he/ she clicks on the link, he/ she shall receive a prompt from a
security gateway as illustrated below—

The security gateway shall eliminate threats of sharing of information to

unaccountable stakeholders.
1.1.4 Just before loading the container, the sensor shall be removed from the container and
the location of the shipper’s goods shall be mapped to the ship because once the
cargo is loaded, location of the container shall be same as location of the ship.
1.1.5 Upon unloading on destination port, a similar procedure shall be followed.

1.2 Live and customizable (as per interest area) newsfeed

1.2.1 Users of Transpro 1.0 will have access to news as per categories mentioned below—
1.2.1.1 Arrivals/Departures: This shall have news updates of arrived, docked, loading
in progress, departed etc.
Eg. Yard no. 730 arklow villa, bound for Yangon Port, departed at scheduled
time 17:37
1.2.1.2 Weather updates: will have news specific to the ocean weather and its
repercussions on various routes
1.2.1.3 New routes: and liners started on them by specific logistics companies will be
updated on this feed
 1.2.1.4 Forwarder specific updates: will hold status of their goods which are
dispatched or expected to be dispatched. This information will be accessible
only after entering a unique pin allotted to each forwarder.
1.2.1.5 Innovation: will keep views updated about the upcoming developments in
Supply Chain Management
1.2.1.6 Classified headlines: will consist of a mix of all the above categories

1.2.2 The news shall also be followed by inferences of the same

1.2.3 This will enable the freight forwarder to plan his shipments by taking
decisions of either delaying the pick-up from the consigner or holding
material for longer in his warehouse
1.2.4 Also, the news and analytics being published by the port authorities shall
stand as a valid proof of any delays in the forwarding of freight. Hence,
intermediaries can show this proof instead of being accused for contractual
incompliance by the end-client.
1.2.5 Forwarders who want to give priority to delivery time over landed cost can
use the ‘Route advisor’ feature of Transpro 1.0 to generate combinations of
modes of transport for optimized logistics.
For eg. Forwarder wants to ship his goods from Nhava Sheva Port to Yangon
Port. ‘Route Advisor’ will give the following suggestion—

No. of days Route/ Method Revised no. Crashing cost

 of days
From Stop Destination
10 Mumbai - Myanmar - -
Sea transportation 9
10 Mumbai Chennai Myanmar 8
Road transportation Sea transportation

1.3 AI for cargo arrangement at Container freight station (CFS)

1.3.1 Software for optimally arranging cargo in a container are available in the market.
1.3.2 Transpro 1.0 shall use a similar algorithm to provide suggestions on optimal storage
of the goods in the CFS.
1.3.3 All that the forwarder has to do is to enter the delivery date of the goods and the
number and size of the containers he wishes to dispatch to the port.
1.3.4 Transpro 1.0 shall use a combination of data like CFS area availability, cargo liner
schedule and a tentative calculation of the number of days involved in each step of
exports of goods and give choices of optimal dates for goods to reach the port.
1.3.5 However, the port authorities can use this feature to their advantage by keeping ports
leaner and hence cutting down the activities on the port. Hence, the choices of dates
given by the port to the forwarders shall be only recommendations and forwarders
will be allowed to choose or ignore them.
1.3.6 In any case, however, forwarders shall not be allowed to ignore the CFS area
arrangement suggestions and will have to choose one of the options if there is a space
constraint there.

2. To combat document tracking, recording and approval issues

The solution of this problem lies in reduction in number of documents required and
automated updates, checking and approval issuance mechanism

2.1 Automated updates, checking and approval issuance mechanism

2.1.1 A schematic of the flow of goods and information has been shown below—
2.1.2 A unique code will be generated by the consigner using a blockchain API. It will
consist of the information shown in the schematic diagram. As the goods move
forward, information such as packed---reached <location> warehouse---shipped
from warehouse---reached CFS etc. will be added to that unique code

Here the green block is called the genesis block in which we intend to store basic
information as mentioned above. The black chain of blocks is the steps through
which the cargo will go through in its transportation time. The purple blocks are
pieces of information that shall be added to the unique code as the material
passes each stage.

2.1.3 The information from the unique code shall be stored on a global cloud server in
the form of modules and displayed to the port authorities as illustrated below—
HS codes of items which
are due immediately are
highlighted in RED.

2.1.4 Port authorities will be able to click on these modules (saved under HSXXX) to
access the information received from the freight forwarder or consigner
2.1.5 These modules shall come with a checking and approving feature.
2.1.6 Once the port authorities check all the points and approve the document, they
will receive a prompt window as illustrated below.

2.1.7 Meanwhile, the forwarder will be updated of these activities via the below
illustrated interface—

(The above image shows the tentative interface of the software we propose to develop for effective
communication between the consigner, freight forwarder and port authorities)
2.1.8 Administrative staff shall be spared the brunt of constant follow-ups from
consigners. Also, consigners will get accurate real-time information.
2.2 Reduction in the number of documents
As mentioned in the ‘Overview’ section of this report, following are the documents required for
exporting goods from any country—

a. Commercial invoice
b. Packing list
c. Certificate of inspection
d. Insurance policy
e. Shipping invoice
f. Bill of lading
g. Certificate of origin
h. Shipping Instructions

These documents should be made strictly electronic so that the transmission is faster. These can
be added into the information modules prepared by the blockchain API. Shipping instructions
should be uploaded to the cloud so that it can be accessed by any of the concerned stakeholders
from any location. Furthermore, hard copies need not be moved around in the system.

Implementation of Blockchain in supply chain will eliminate the need for certificate of origin
because the unique code generated by the API can be accessed by authorized personnel to
retrieve all the information about the history of the product, its journey and current status.

CONCLUSION
Transpro 1.0 shall be with the cargo at every step and shall help its administrators to avoid
glitches. Hence, it shall become an integrated communication tool and a facilitator of services
like barcode generation, information transfer, checking of information and e-approval/e-
clearances, reducing the cumbersome task of managing and moving bulks of paper work along
with the cargo.

REFERENCES
1. http://www.mach1global.com/what-is-the-freight-forwarding-process/
2. http://www.jnport.gov.in/Container_Freight_Stations.aspx
3. https://www.universalcargo.com/what-is-customs-clearance/
4. https://2016.export.gov/logistics/eg_main_018121.asp
5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewrossow/2018/04/11/bringing-blockchain-into-industry-
4-0/#60f6c6556dc7
6. https://www.morethanshipping.com/issues-challenges-facing-shipping-industry-2018/
APPENDIX
Appendix 1

This is a schematic of a port which can be used to refer the journey of goods in the port. The
markings done in red illustrate the journey of the material from the exporter’s warehouse until
loading
Appendix 2

Freight Forwarder - An organization that manages shipments for other organizations or

individuals. They generally have contracts with carriers or operate their own fleet. They have an
experience of optimizing delivery time and cost.

Container – It is a reusable storage and transport unit for moving goods between locations. It
comes in different types—

Demurrage – Tramp shipping demurrage are the charges paid if the shipper fails to
load/discharge the ship at the scheduled time. Liner Shipping demurrage are the charges paid
when the goods are stored on the port for more than the free time (agreed in a policy as per
shipping line)

Commercial invoice – This is a legal document which notifies the customer about the amount
that needs to paid for the supplied product. It consists of a description of the goods that are being
supplied along with the amount

Packing list – This enlists the contents, size and weight and HS code of the products stuffed in a
container

Certificate of inspection – It is a document that testifies that the supplied goods are in good
quality and functionality when packed
Shipping invoice - A shipping invoice is an account of items sent from one organization to
another. It should include name and location of the sender and receiver of the goods.

Bill of lading – A binding document between the shipper and cargo carrier containing
description, quantity and consignee information.

Certificate of origin – It testifies that the products have been manufactured in the country in
which this certificate is issued.

Shipping Instructions – It consists of handling instructions, specific to the goods being

transported.