ITCO (International Tank Container Organization) and BIC (Bureau International des Conteneurs) achieved a major milestone during their members' meeting in Antwerp: live tank container data is now available on BoxTech. This achievement enables maritime carriers to easily access the information they need for automating the tank container acceptance process.
Tank Container Data on BoxTech
ITCO members, including Stolt Tank Containers and Bertschi, have uploaded several hundred units including inspection certificates to demonstrate how maritime carriers can quickly and easily access this information. This initiative aims to eliminate the previous manual and time-consuming processes that involved exchanging information via email. Currently, this process takes an average of 30 minutes for each tank container.
Efficiency and Speed in the Acceptance Process
With tank container data available on BoxTech, the verification process is done instantly. Carriers can easily check container information online or transfer this information to their systems via API, without the need for email exchanges or re-entering data. This approach is designed to replace the current manual process with a reliable source of data.
Shin Robertson, a member of the ITCO Digital Committee and Digital Transformation Manager at Stolt Tank Containers, stated: “For tank operators, each new booking meant gathering the same specifications and inspection certificates and sending them separately for each container. Agreeing on a core set of 14 attributes paves the way for a much simpler process. Operators can upload their data to BoxTech once, and any carrier can quickly access that information.”
Douglas Owen, Secretary General of BIC, also pointed out that carriers have always sought to improve their processes related to tank containers and shipper-owned containers. He said: “By sharing data through BoxTech, carriers can instantly access container information, which not only helps increase efficiency but also provides them with up-to-date and reliable inspection data to support safety checks.”
BoxTech is available free of charge to all tank operators and includes data on over 15 million containers from more than 900 container owners and operators. This system serves over 6000 registered users worldwide. Tank container operators can upload and control their fleet data via API, SFTP, or web, determining which fields to share.
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