PierPass Inc. Thursday launched the Free-Flow Program, testing a new cargo handling process expected to significantly reduce the time it takes participating commercial trucks to pick up containers at marine terminals. Today’s random-access process, where any truck can show up at any time to pick up any container, hasn’t changed since containerization began in the early 1960’s.
With new, larger ships unloading as many as 5,000 containers at a time, the random-access process is creating efficiency challenges at major ports around the world. The free-flow process enables bulk delivery of large groups of containers belonging to the same cargo owner, trucking company or logistics company. PierPass Inc. recenly launched the Free-Flow Program , testing a new cargo handling process expected to significantly reduce the time it takes participating commercial trucks to pick up containers at marine terminals. The free-flow process starts when a ship is being unloaded. All containers claimed by a single owner, trucking company or logistics provider are piled into a separate stack. The cargo owner or its representative then sends a stream of trucks into the marine terminal through a special lane, and each truck takes the next container in the stack. Trial runs of free-flow have shown a range of results and are helping terminal operators and trucking companies learn how to best structure the process. At best, trucking companies have reported turn times as short as 11 minutes, compared to about 45 minutes for a typical transaction.
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