Technology Archives | Page 13 of 15

New predictive tools for low-carbon supply chains; how Metro are delivering visibility

Sep 22, 2022 | Environment, MVT, Technology

Considering that the world needs to accelerate its path to net zero carbon, we’re focused on creating valuable environmentally sustainable solutions, with new predictive tools that will enhance our shippers understanding of where their emissions are truly coming from, so they can build low-carbon supply chains.

Whether it is to comply with regulations, driven by stakeholder pressure, improve brand reputation or simply because it is the right thing to do, businesses need to understand the carbon impact of their supply chain and do something positive to minimise and mitigate their impact on the environment.

Calculating supply chain carbon emissions can be daunting, which is why we provide guidance, measuring tools and offset solutions to overcome the challenge.

Supply chain carbon foot printing requires lots of information, covering different activities and historically this wealth of data has been scattered, difficult to source, extricate and extrapolate.

And should you identify all the appropriate sources, the job is not over, as once your data is ready you will need to apply the appropriate carbon calculations.

With Metro’s MVT Eco module, all the CO2 measuring and emission analysis tools you need is found in one single place. With calculations that conform to EN 16258, you can trust in data and reporting that complies with the most demanding frameworks and methodologies.

MVT Eco makes it simple to measure your supply chain carbon emissions, for every single consignment, with the platform undertaking calculations automatically, based on your activity, saving you time, effort, money… and stress!

Launching our new ‘on demand calculator’ module means that shippers - for the first time - can see pre-shipment CO2 forecasts, by any mode and location, based on IATA or UNLOC codes and use those insights to create efficient, low-carbon supply chain solutions.

Using our latest generation MVT Eco module, we can develop intelligent supply chain solutions, based on accurate and representative data, that are respectful of the environment. Low-carbon multi-modal solutions that blend air, road, sea, inland waterways and rail, together with NGV and electric vehicles.

Predictive functionality:

Weight in kgs, tonnes, TEU, FEU or pallets
Global locations based on IATA or UNLOC codes
Select road, sea, air or any combination
Visual representation of distance, CO2, primary energy and total avoidance cost
Export to excel option

To discuss your situation, carbon reduction strategies and the availability of offset
projects please contact Simon George, who leads our technical solution team.

We encourage all customers and other collaborative partners to arrange a demonstration on what, how and why we are focusing on this important subject and continue to invest in reducing the impact of environmental damage within global supply chains. It will be 30 minutes of your time well spent – guaranteed.

Shipping line profits just keep growing

Jul 21, 2022 | Sea, Technology

The operational efficiency of shipping lines are reaching dizzying levels, with the leading carriers generating an average operating margin of 57.4%, versus an average of just -0.2% in the decade preceding the pandemic.

All carriers reported higher margins in the latest quarter, compared to 55.6% in the third quarter of 2021, with Taiwan’s Evergreen achieving the highest operating margin of 68.6%.

Basically the carriers are making a return before interest and tax of 57 cents on every dollar of sales, with some carriers generating almost 70 cents on every dollar. That is immense, unprecedented and pretty much unmatched in any industry, especially when you consider the scale and size of global container shipping around the globe.

Though Hapag-Lloyd has said that it expects its second quarter results to come in slightly lower than the last quarter, it remains to be seen if the 57.4% margin is the peak of profitability for the container shipping industry, or if they will continue to post extraordinarily strong results.

May saw the highest monthly increase in long-term contracted ocean freight rates, as the cost of locking in container shipments soared by 30.1% and means that long-term rates are now 150.6% up year-on-year.

With 2022 long-term contract rates more than doubling year-on-year, it is possible that those contract prices could offset spot rates, should they soften later in the year. Which means that 2022 financial carrier results could still potentially exceed 2021.

By the end of 2022, the container shipping industry will have earned an unprecedented half a trillion dollars of operating profit, from two years of supply chain disruption and record freight rates.

The container shipping industry profits in the first quarter of 2022 beat Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google by 103%, expanding the gap from last year’s fourth quarter when liner industry profits beat the quartet by 14%.

Probably none of this is new news to you – but it is worth headlining and highlighting as it is a vital constituent in the price of goods and therefore a major contribution to the domestic and global inflation pressures and issues that are being experienced currently and for the foreseeable future. Someone has to ultimately pay for these higher costs and that is the consumer.

The container shipping lines are profiting from the perfect storm of demand and disruption, limiting effective capacity. Their pay-day comes after decades of meagre returns and one must hope that we will see a fair equilibrium, for shippers and carriers, eventually emerge.

Global supply chains are going to be under pressure for a while yet, and we will continue to share with you the most important developments so that you are informed and prepared to make critical decisions ahead of potential issues.

We negotiate rate and volume agreements with carriers across all three alliances, which means we have the freedom to react to market conditions and changes.

Please contact Elliot Carlile to discuss your supply chain expectations and deadlines to ensure your business is ‘future proofed’ for the rest of 2022.

HMRC’s new declaration system: What you need to do

Apr 21, 2022 | Customs, Technology

The Customs Declaration Service (CDS) will become the only UK customs platform when HMRC starts to phase out its legacy CHIEF system later this year and businesses importing goods into the UK need to take action on the government gateway.

Launched over 30 years ago the customs handling of import and export freight system (CHIEF) identifies goods for checks at ports and airports and is the channel for submitting customs declarations to HMRC, making it critical to the flow of international trade.

The decision to replace CHIEF was made prior to the EU referendum in 2015 and the new customs declaration service (CDS) was due to launch ahead of the UK leaving the EU, but it was not ready on time, to handle the large increase in customs declarations, which left HMRC updating and extending the use of CHIEF.

The government now feels confident that CDS can handle the increase in the volume of declarations resulting from Brexit, which have been estimated at 400 million p.a.

HMRC is moving from paper-based rules on CHIEF, to data processing rules on CDS in two stages:

30th September 2022 – Import declarations will no longer be accepted via CHIEF
31st March 2023 – Export declarations will no longer be accepted via CHIEF and the National Export System (NES)

CDS is replacing the HMRC legacy system for processing customs declarations and even though we will be preparing and submitting these declarations on behalf of our customers, you need to register on the government gateway so that your business can:

Get Import VAT statements and certificates to assist you in completing your VAT returns
Set up a new direct debit mandate, if you’re a deferment account holder

Request access to CDS through your existing government gateway account, using this LINK: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-access-to-the-customs-declaration-service.

NOTE – If you are a deferment account holder, you must set up a new direct-debit mandate for CDS, as the one for CHIEF will not work

You will need to provide HMRC with the following:

EORI number
Unique Tax Reference Number (UTR)
Registered business address for Customs records
The date on which you started your business

Once registered for CDS you will be able to view your “financial dashboard” on the Government Gateway, which is where you can set up a new direct debit mandate for your deferment account.

The application process should only take a few minutes and we recommend that you get access now, so that you are ready to get your first import VAT statement.

If you have not heard of CDS, or how to access the government gateway, we can guide you through the changes and actions required.

Contact us now for further information, discuss your situation and see our automated customs platform, CuDoS.

Andy Fitchett, who leads our brokerage team and function, and is a market-leading expert in the area, will be delighted to personally assist you with your enquiry.

Leading by example

Mar 10, 2022 | Metro, MVT, Supply Chain, Technology

Effective planning for the receipt of inbound ocean cargo, requires accurate arrival dates, but with schedule reliability at all time lows, the effective management of imports has never been more challenging. Metro’s new ‘Vessel Tracking’ tool links directly with transceivers on board, to follow real-time progress and uses AI to detect changes and automatically correct expected arrival dates, so that plans can be updated.

At Metro shipping, we move over 100,000 containers every year and it's becoming increasingly difficult to solely rely on the arrival data the carriers are providing, we require additional levels of visibility that go way beyond the standard.
According to our systems, less than 20% of container vessels are arriving on time and some trade lanes have reliability of less than 2% on-time schedule reliability.

The ability of vessels to hit their port berthing window impacts shippers that have goods or equipment tied up on the ocean voyage, with ripple impacts from delays all along the extended supply chain.

The Metro Technical Solutions team have been working closely with Windward, the Predictive Intelligence company, that apply AI to global maritime trade, to integrate their Ocean Freight Visibility solution with the Metro supply chain platform, MVT.

Utilising AI to get predictive ETA data is an important development. To see the impact of vessel behaviour, weather, port congestion all being evaluated is quite exciting for us and Windward's data stacked up incredibly well, in terms of what we found in the predictive data.

The resulting MVT ‘Track Your Vessel’ module improves inbound planning efficiency, with automated data collection and analysis to provide real-time accurate ETA predictions, disruption risk predictions, reasons for delay, and location-based insights for inbound cargo.

Effective planning for the receipt of inbound ocean cargo, is dependent on knowledge of the vessel’s actual arrival date and even with schedule reliability at all time lows, the automated updating of accurate vessel ETAs by the MVT ‘Track Your Vessel’ module supports the effective management of imports, customs processes and swift delivery to the importer.

In a forthcoming webinar, Metro’s technical solutions director, Simon George, will show how technology can turn transform import challenges into effective operations, that exceed customer expectations.

"We need to provide first-class digital solutions. This last year has been one of the worst in terms of predicting how your supply chain is going to perform. Anything that could’ve gone wrong, has gone wrong. As an example, not only is it costing up to 10x more to move freight, instead of 35 days shipments are taking 45 or 50 days. Technology can’t fix that. But it can help you make decisions within those constraints. You can make data-driven decisions."

Simon, together with former Maersk executive, Lars Jensen and members of the Windward team will discuss how to turn formidable challenges, including supply chain disruption, into promising opportunities.

The Windward webinar takes place on Thursday 17th March @ 11am. Click HERE to register for this event.

The MVT ‘Track Your Vessel’ module automatically follows all ships carrying containers with our cargo on the water. The module instantly detects an ETA change or an arrival at POD and automatically updates the MVT platform.

Our technical solutions team are constantly innovating and evolving the MVT platforms to ensure that, whatever the challenge, our customers’ products are in the right place, at the right time.

For further information on our MVT platform and to discuss how we can enhance your supply chains, please get in touch with Eilliot Carlile or Simon George.