- Nine of the container-shipping industry’s top carriers have adopted the open-source, free track and trace (T&T) standards developed by the association.
- The members of the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) are CMA CGM, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Maersk, MSC, ONE, Yang Ming and Zim.
- Five members now have the application programming interface (API) in production or testing.
- All expect to soon be providing shippers and other parties access to the API to enable cross-carrier shipment tracking.
A recent news article published in the DCSA reveals that majority of member carriers adopt DCSA Track & Trace Standards.
What is the advantage of this DCSA initiative?
Collaborating through this initiative, participating carriers provide shippers with a streamlined way to receive real-time data regarding the whereabouts of their containers.
All using the same API code to enable data transmission between different software products or platforms.
DCSA believes that widespread adoption of the standards would advance the industry in terms of visibility and real-time responsiveness, resulting in greater reliability and a better customer experience.
Industry Blueprint
The data model ensures track and trace data definitions are consistent for all users.
These definitions are based on the Industry Blueprint, published by DCSA in 2019, which established a consistent vocabulary and proposed a common set of industry processes.
The T&T standards are aligned with the UN/CEFACT (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business) standards.
Its goal is to provide a global industry framework that preserves existing investments and streamlines communication among all supply chain participants.
Free track and trace (T&T) standards
Using these standards, customers will be able to track containers through five shipping phases: pre-shipment, pre-ocean, ocean, post-ocean and post shipment.
The API will enable shippers to query carrier systems from any existing technology platform and receive T&T information in a common and easily consumable format.
What does T&T standards comprise?
The T&T standards comprise an information model and interface standards that can be freely downloaded from the DCSA website; API definitions are available on SwaggerHub, an open-source API-development platform.
Documentation with versioning guidance can be found on GitHub, a code hosting platform.
Carrier perspectives
MSC
“MSC has long recognised the importance of digitisation across the shipping industry and has been one of the pioneers behind digital change, with the aim to improve efficiency and transparency across the supply chain and deliver a greater customer experience,” said André Simha, Chairman of the DCSA Supervisory Board and Global Chief Digital & Information Officer of MSC.
ONE
“Our mission is to provide optimal solutions for our customers through innovation and collaboration,” said Yu Kurimoto, Managing Director, Corporate and Innovation for ONE (Ocean Network Express).
CMA CGM
“Providing innovative products that enable a seamless shipping experience is one of our core benefits to customers,” said Nicolas Sekkaki, Executive Vice President IT, Digital, SSC & Transformation from CMA CGM.
Yang Ming
“We are dedicated to digital transformation to provide quality services to our customers,” said Steven Tsao, Chief Information Officer from Yang Ming.
Evergreen
“Striving to offer our customers productive and efficient service has always been core to our mission,” said Eric Wang, Executive Vice President of International Marketing Division from Evergreen.
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Source: DCSA
