Advent eModal, provider of the eModal® suite of applications that simplify and accelerate the flow of cargo across the intermodal supply chain, today announced the successful deployment of its Intermodal Manager™ rail solution at G&W’s Birmingham and Cardiff terminals in the UK. These terminals mark the first implementations of eModal at intermodal rail facilities and Advent eModal’s first installations in Europe.
At its core, the application provides a robust vehicle booking system (VBS), or appointment system, which enables the haulier community to book container drop-off and pick-up activities in advance of the truck’s arrival at the terminal. The system is tightly integrated with the IPRO® terminal operating system (TOS) provided by Tideworks Technology. Additionally, as part of its terminal technology modernization program, G&W has deployed the Camco gate management system at both Birmingham and Cardiff. The combination of these technologies has empowered G&W to automate upwards of 90 percent of gate transactions at these UK terminals, resulting in streamlined gates and significantly reduced truck turn times.
“We are excited to be working with such a great group of people at G&W’s UK operations and to have gone live with the Intermodal Manager VBS at Birmingham and Cardiff,” said Dennis Monts, COO of Advent eModal. “The G&W UK team has done a tremendous job of preparing the trucking community and terminal personnel for this change, as well as communicating with the project teams throughout the process. Thanks to their efforts, the go lives have been as smooth as we have seen. We could not be prouder of our team and to be associated with this project. We look forward to the rollout of VBS at the subsequent G&W UK sites.”
A Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, the VBS enables G&W UK operations to register trucking companies, their dispatchers and drivers; establish terminal appointment capacity; publish the availability of appointments to the community; and report on terminal activity. Registered trucking companies can now make appointments with the terminal for a single container pick up, a single drop off, or a combination of the two from a straight-forward, intuitive interface. The system provides the flexibility to book appointments by a variety of reference numbers, including customer reference, release reference and rail reference. In conjunction with the other technologies deployed, the VBS enables the terminal to drastically accelerate gate activities and balance the terminal’s workload, as well as reduces gate queues and turn times for the haulier community.
“We are extremely pleased with the outcomes at Cardiff and Birmingham,” stated Chris Lawrenson, Managing Director of G&W’s UK Terminals segment. “We are investing in technology to improve the customer and haulier experience and to help speed up the supply chain. The Advent eModal team has worked diligently to provide a VBS solution that meets our needs at two very different rail terminals within our network. Because of this, we are confident that the VBS could perform well at our other terminals and depots as we move forward with additional site deployments. Our technology modernization program is a large-scale initiative, and Advent eModal’s VBS is a critical component of the program and of its success.”
About Advent eModal
The eModal® platform serves as the world’s largest port community system serving intermodal operators in North, Central & South America, Australia and the United Kingdom. Active in every U.S. port complex, Advent eModal technology is at the core of operations in 8 of the top 10 largest port communities in North America. Core Advent eModal developed applications provide executional tools and APIs offering cargo visibility, terminal pre-advice & appointment setting, payment processing and data enabled business intelligence. Over 85 global port authorities and container terminals, over 200 inland depots and 160,000 users trust Advent eModal and its SaaS platforms like eModal.com, Chassis.com and eModal Data Services (EDS) to optimize daily operations and process over 200 million monthly cargo transactions. For more information, visit https://www.adventemodal.com.
About G&W
G&W owns or leases 116 freight railroads organised in locally managed operating regions with 7,300 employees serving 3,000 customers.
G&W’s UK/Europe Region companies include Freightliner, the UK’s largest rail maritime intermodal operator and second-largest freight rail provider, and Pentalver, a leading UK container logistics services provider as well as regional rail services in continental Europe.
Freightliner is an established rail freight provider offering customers a wide range of safe, reliable and cost-effective solutions to cater for the requirements of a diverse market sector. With an extensive offering of bulk freight transportation services as well as the 770,000 maritime containers we move per year by both road and rail, Freightliner provides the complete logistics package, ensuring satisfaction from port to door.
Pentalver’s strategically located off-dock facilities at Felixstowe, Southampton and London Gateway, along with their inland hub at Cannock, offer diverse container services such as road haulage, container storage, container repairs, refrigeration services and cargo handling. Pentalver is also one of the UK’s leading container sales and bespoke container conversions providers.
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