Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA), a neutral, non-profit group established to further the digitalisation of container shipping technology, has published standards for the exchange of operational vessel schedules (OVS).
DCSA, which is composed of nine shipping lines, said that the standards can be implemented by vessel operators, as well as their vessel sharing agreement (VSA) partners and operational service providers, to enable automatic sharing of schedule information.
With the new standards in place, carriers can digitally publish their schedules, and their partners and operational service providers can subscribe to the carrier’s feed to automatically receive updates, or retrieve updates as needed, said the announcement.
This will provide complete vessel schedule transparency, increasing efficiency and enabling better planning and optimisation of shipping activities, according to the DCSA.
The DCSA OVS standard publication comprises a set of documents:
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In addition to these documents, DCSA has published OVS API definitions on the SwaggerHub open source API development platform, where future enhancements will also be published. Carriers can use the definitions to rapidly implement DCSA standard-compliant APIs for OVS.
ONE (Ocean Network Express) emerged from the legacy of three Japanese liner companies, said Yu Kurimoto, MD corporate and innovation for ONE, whotook pride in service delivery.
“From this cherished history we formed our current core values of quality, reliability, innovation and customer satisfaction. Furthering these values in the modern era requires greater transparency and interoperability among industry participants. OVS is a perfect example of an area in which digitalisation would provide these benefits. We are very pleased to see DCSA taking on OVS with its digital standards initiatives,” he added.
OVS are at the core of a functioning container shipping industry, according to Thomas Bagge, CEO of DCSA, who went on to say, “Digitising them is necessary if we want build a higher degree of effectiveness and efficiency into the fabric of container shipping processes, and this release is an important step in that direction. Once implemented, our OVS standards will, for example, enable a port operator to optimise their operational activities in accordance with the exact arrival time and departure date of a vessel.”
The DCSA Standard for Operational Vessel Schedules can be freely downloaded from the DCSA website.
DCSA is constituted of the following container shipping companies: MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE Evergreen, Yang Ming, HMM and ZIM.
