There is a growing need for closer collaboration between cargo owners and ocean carriers to improve cargo visibility and data communication, which has also been shown by supply chain issues, according to the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA), a not-for-profit group established to further standardise the digitalisation of container shipping, which will collaborate with the European Shippers’ Council (ESC), representing cargo owners, to accelerate the adoption of DCSA standards and enable a better customer experience for shippers.
Specifically, the two parties will leverage DCSA’s open source, vendor-neutral standards to help their members and other business partners make data exchange more timely, accurate and interoperable.
“Global supply chains have been continuously optimised over decades; present-day technologies allow for the further improvement in customer experience. Unstandardised, paper-based processes for exchanging information to conduct business and keep goods moving should not be needed in the 21st century,” commented Thomas Bagge, chief executive officer of DCSA.
“The lack of digitalisation limits progress towards greater transparency and end-to-end, real-time cargo visibility. We can only bring about digital transformation together. That is why we are committed to closer collaboration with the ESC and its like-minded members and are confident our joint efforts will accelerate standards adoption among cargo owners and other industry stakeholders,” he added.
DCSA and ESC will work together in three main ways.
First, both organisations will invest time and resources to help members adopt and implement DCSA digital standards to address their most pressing needs. This may include involving ESC members in proof-of-concept trials and pilots, as well as ongoing education and training and promoting successes for best practice learning.
Second, DCSA and ESC will share knowledge and contribute regularly to each other’s member forums.
Finally, DCSA will gather input from ESC members to optimise existing standards and ensure that future standards are developed in close alignment with shippers’ needs.
“Our members need seamless data exchange across the supply chain to optimally orchestrate the movement of their goods. In the digital realm, this can only be achieved when communication is standards based,” noted Godfried Smit, secretary general of the ESC.
“Collaboration with DCSA is one of the three pillars of our strategy going forward because its work on standards aligns with our own goals for transparent, stable and resilient supply chains,” he concluded.
