HHLA fine-tunes Truck FIT system for maximum terminal efficiency

Working together with several haulage companies, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) has continued to refine its slot-booking system, Truck FIT, to improve utilisation at its Hamburg container terminals and raise efficiency at the land-sea interface.

The initiative follows a spell of unprecedented supply chain disruption at ports in many parts of the world, resulting in delays to ships costing billions of dollars. Productivity both at sea and onshore has been seriously affected and the disruption is likely to continue for months to come, experts say.

The Truck FIT system is designed to ensure optimal use of available capacity at terminals by providing an equal opportunity to all haulage companies to plan and book slots. This has the potential to reduce truck time in terminals and raise productivity. Following the last system update, the ‘no-show rate’, which includes cancellations and unused slots, has continued to fall, HHLA said.

Managing director of Hamburg’s Container Terminal Altenwerder, Oliver Dux, commented: “We are very grateful to our project partners … for supporting HHLA’s introduction of Truck FIT despite the difficult circumstances. The current situation, in particular, illustrates how important it is for all parties that are affected by the supply chain disruptions to work together and to find solutions.”