European short sea car carrier UECC has formed a partnership with Quintiq to provide a key performance-driven planning platform for its Europe-wide operations.
The decision came to counter the impact of sky-rocketing bunker and vessel prices, and boost efficiency in its complex operations amid shifting car production locations and dynamics of short sea operations with very short lead times.
UECC ‘s managing director Craig Jasienski says: “Customers are asking us for cost-efficient solutions to reduce operation cost, for increased flexibility and capacity, and for more real-time information sharing.
“With Quintiq we can provide customers with optimal solutions, improve operational efficiency and reduce cost in our value chain.”
Once the Quintiq’s advanced planning and scheduling (APS) system is implemented, planners would be able to make optimal decisions based on real-time KPI visualised on their screen, while also being able to tune the plan at the last minute.
Quintiq said by improving the quality and availability of planning data, the system will improve communication between fleet operation and customer service processes, enable efficient planning of cargo to vessels, and provide full visibility to all planners and logistics staff.
“The extreme dynamics of short sea trading requires a flexible decision support system with parallel optimisation capabilities,” said Arjen Heeres, COO at Quintiq.
“We are very proud that UECC has chosen our standard planning and optimisation technology to support their aspirations and help them realise their goals.”
The carrier is projecting ROI savings would start as early as four months after going live. The system, which will cover planning of cargo to multiple vessels, forecasting and vessel planning, is to be implemented by Quintiq’s partner Ab Ovo.
Ab Ovo’s CTO Ronald Bolijin said: “Beyond streamlining automotive shipping logistics, the technology can also bring significant benefits to terminal operators by enabling them to understand how long cargo will stay on berth so they can optimise space allocations for quickest possible loading.”