Upon completion of operations on a particular vessel, a terminal departure report (TDR) is to be sent to the respective shipping lines. This report, prepared from timesheets, includes container vessel operation data and tabulation of productivity. This can be in the form of the EDI-message TPFREP.
Each terminal has a set number of moves, which can be performed on a vessel during a port call. One move is usually defined as the movement (loading or unloading) of one container.
A trade lane (or trade route) refers to a specific pathway along which goods are transported between two or more locations, typically across international borders. Trade lanes are established based on the flow of goods and the economic relationships between countries or regions. They encompass both maritime and air routes and play a crucial role in global supply chains by facilitating the movement of goods and fostering international trade.
Transit time refers to the duration it takes for goods or shipments to travel from their origin to their destination. It is a crucial metric in supply chain and logistics management, as it directly impacts delivery schedules, inventory levels, and customer satisfaction. Transit time encompasses the entire journey of a shipment, including transportation, handling, and processing at various checkpoints along the route.
Transloading refers to the process of transferring goods or cargo from one mode of transportation to another, typically from one type of truck or railcar to another, or from rail to truck and vice versa. This logistical practice is often employed to optimize transportation routes, reduce costs, and improve overall efficiency in supply chain operations.
A Transportation Management System (TMS) is a specialized software solution designed to streamline and optimize transportation and logistics operations within supply chains. It provides functionalities to effectively manage and control the movement of goods from origin to destination.
Transportation lead time refers to the duration it takes for goods to be transported from the point of origin to the final destination. It encompasses the time required for transportation activities, including loading, transit, and unloading, across various modes of transport such as road, rail, air, or sea.
A transshipment is the process of transferring goods from one transportation vehicle or vessel to another during their journey from origin to destination. It typically occurs at intermediary points along the supply chain route, where cargo is transferred between different modes of transportation, carriers or vessels.
Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) is a standard unit of measurement used in the shipping industry to quantify the cargo-carrying capacity of container vessels. It represents the volume of a standard twenty-foot-long shipping container.
Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is a supply chain management strategy where the supplier or vendor takes responsibility for managing the inventory levels of their products at the customer's or retailer's location. In this arrangement, the vendor monitors the inventory levels based on agreed-upon criteria such as sales data or inventory levels, and initiates replenishment as needed.
Verified Gross Mass (VGM) is a term used in the shipping industry to refer to the total weight of a packed container, including its contents and packaging materials. It is a crucial requirement mandated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) under the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention to enhance safety in maritime transportation.
A floating structure with its own mode of propulsion designed for the transport of cargo and/or passengers. In the Industry Blueprint 1.0 "Vessel" is used synonymously with "Container vessel", hence a vessel with the primary function of transporting containers.
An agreement between two or more shipping lines to share vessel capacity on specific routes to increase asset utilization.
Vessel bunching refers to the situation where multiple vessels arrive at a port simultaneously or within a short period, leading to congestion and delays. This clustering of vessels can overwhelm port facilities, causing extended wait times for berthing, loading, and unloading operations.
A vessel call sign is a unique identifier assigned to a ship for radio communication purposes. It is used to distinguish the vessel from others in maritime communication systems, including VHF radios and satellite communications.
A vessel omission (sometimes called a port omission) occurs when a scheduled vessel does not call at a planned port during its voyage. This disruption means that the vessel skips the port entirely, which can impact the transportation and delivery schedules of goods.
The order and sequence in which a vessel calls the ports on its route.
The timetable of departure and arrival times for each port call on the rotation of the vessel in question.
A journey by sea from one port or country to another one or, in case of a round trip, to the same port.
Warehouse utilization is a logistics metric that refers to the effective use of available warehouse space for storing goods and inventory.
Order for specific transportation work carried out by a third party provider on behalf of the issuing party.
Logistics yard management refers to the process of overseeing and controlling the movement of trucks, trailers, containers, and other vehicles within a yard or distribution center. This includes tasks such as scheduling, tracking, and coordinating the arrival, departure, and storage of these vehicles.
News from Beacon’s internal Hackathon
Jaco Van Der Berg, Director of Engineering
Last month we ran an internal Hackathon at Beacon’s office in London. As we hadn’t done one in a while, we thought it was time.
What is a Hackathon?
A Hackathon, or Hack Marathon is an opportunity for everyone to pause for a moment and consider the customer problems at hand from outside of the box again. Are there other problems we can solve to provide value to our customers? Are there innovative features, products and channels of communication we can build for an even better customer experience? Are there internal tools we can develop to make life easier for our colleagues?
Hackathons also give our technical team the chance to explore better ways of architecting systems to improve the way they work. In this forum, we are able to have a crack at something different even if it is risky. There are no consequences or downsides because it is deliberately not going to impact our planned product roadmap.
How we planned it
Sophia, one of our EMs, volunteered to plan the event. We decided to use themes to help the participants narrow down their ideas. Although it was not mandatory to stay within the theme,the downside of going out of the theme was less chance of winning the prize. The themes were:
- Onboarding in a product led growth world
- Alerting (not in the tech terms but as it relates to Beacon’s product proposition)
Coming into the office wasn’t mandatory, but most of us chose to. Having everyone in one place made it feel collaborative and it reminded us of how important it is to have some facetime with our colleagues.
How we prepared
Ideas poured in from members of our engineering, design, and product team. All ideas were pitched by their owners, and the successful ones formed teams.
Four teams shaped up. TONI, I Need It By, Web Notifications and Beacon Live. Some of our backend engineers decided to implement the frontend side of the project and vice versa to experience things differently. It was great learning about other technical challenges and what motivates other colleagues.
All teams and projects were finalised a week before the Hackathon so they could plan, consider the system design and document it etc.
A jury was formed to judge the projects. It included Beacon’s executives, our directors and our PMs. They were going to evaluate the project based on:
- How well the problem was defined and how impactful the solution could be
- How well the solution was designed and presented
- How much progress had been made in the prototype build
- How well the product’s long term vision was defined and the product’s potential
The day arrived, so did the t-shirts!
How it went
Together we had two vigorous and fun days designing, coding and coming up with quick solutions. As the problems Beacon is solving are quite vast, greenfield and unbounded, the freedom they presented was really fantastic.
The days went by (lots of coffee, snacks and pizza were involved) and of course, projects were built. Then, it was time to prepare the presentations. We made sure to keep a few days between the Hackathon and presenting.
Finally, when the presentation day arrived, our judges came armed with their sheets and notes. They had no prior view to the projects and everything was new to them. The engagement by the jury, especially our executives, was exemplary.
Everyone was super creative with their presentations. We had some good laughs during the session, internal team jokes and little pranks which made the days much more memorable.
The judges were really impressed with what we achieved in the two days.
Right after the last presentations, the judges went off to decide on a winner. There was a solid deep dive into each idea and how it could help our product roadmap. Scores were debated and at the end, the winning team, Beacon Live, was selected as the winner of our February 2023 Hackathon.
Wrapping up
All four proposals were so innovative that we’ve decided to incorporate them all into our product backlog.
The day was such a success that we have agreed to run a Hackathon every six months. It was an amazing way to drum up some new perspectives and enthusiasm for the problems we are solving, whilst also building connections between teams and colleagues.