The value of better cargo data exchange extends well beyond efficiency gains. This insight highlights how cleaner, more consistent operational data supports safer vessel operations, stronger compliance, improved schedule reliability, and reduced manual workload.
One of the clearest sources of value in an updated cargo data exchange system is the reduction in manual workloads.
Large gains can be measured throughout the cargo data exchange process, from fewer re-handles and fewer plan iterations to shorter waiting times and more consistent crane operations.
Beyond immediate efficiency gains, clean and consistent data also facilitates future automation and advanced decision-support tools. Paul Saraber, Head of IT and Systems, Rotterdam World Gateway, linked data quality directly to innovation potential, explaining how, “if we had very clean data, we could drive automation even further. Without clean data, you need much longer periods to train models and ignore bad data.”
While most shore-based stakeholders focus on efficiency, vessel crews emphasise safety as a central value driver for cargo data exchange. As the Operations Head of a top-10 container carrier explained, many terminals still operate on outdated EDI versions that cannot transmit modern SMDG attribute codes for critical or special cargo.
This means that information about dangerous or sensitive containers may not reach vessels accurately or on time, creating unnecessary risk. The Operations Head of a top-10 container carrier stressed that it is not only declared dangerous goods that present a hazard, but also undeclared or cargo wrongly listed as general freight.
If a terminal deviates from the approved stow plan and those changes are not reflected in shared data, the crew may face danger during onboard fires, stack collapses, or other emergencies.
Several interviewees pointed to schedule reliability and vessel utilisation as their top priorities. According to Sea-Intelligence, global schedule reliability reached 55.8% in May 2024, but the average delay for late ships increased to 5.1 days.
On the port side, unclear line-ups and changing priorities can force feeder vessels to wait at anchorage without a confirmed berth time, creating a great wastage of money and fuel.
From the carrier side, if terminals do not report shortfalls or changes, it could be that a vessel sails with a stow that does not allow it to maximise intake in the next port.
Better cargo data exchange will not remove uncertainty, but it can give planners earlier, more accurate signals to work with. Port communities could also benefit, and decarbonisation could be positively impacted as more predictable calls mean fewer trucks, vessels waiting, and less congestion around the terminal.
To discover what effective cargo data exchange looks like, and how it can be achieved in today’s port operations read the full Thought Leadership report ‘Rethinking Cargo Data Exchange: Modernising Communication Between Terminals, Carriers, and Vessels’ produced in partnership with Kaleris.
