Port scuttlebutt - October 2000

Real-Time Service In Wilmington

This year, the Port of Wilmington has revolutionized its truck loading and cargo dispatch procedures services with the introduction of “Eloads”.  The Eloads system is a real-time electronic communication program which manages the distribution of cargo from the Port of Wilmington’s warehouses.  It creates an accurate, cost-efficient and timely distribution line, which has improved the quality of Wilmington’s distribution services to its customers.  Eload is a vast improvement over the traditional truck loading procedure.

With the traditional procedure, when one of the Port’s customers instructed a trucking company to pick-up some cargo from the Port, a truck driver would present a written request for loading at the Port’s customer service office.  Customer service would fill out more forms and direct the driver to the warehouse for loading.  The warehouse supervisor would have to locate the specific cargo, and specific pallets.  Then, the driver would visit the customer’s local port office for approval of the load.  With the customer’s approval, the truck driver would again visit the Port’s Shipping and Handling customer service for final release of the load.  This procedure would often take several hours, requiring customer service staff to fill out reams of paper work, and was liable to human error.

The Eloads system conducts most of the communication electronically, utilizing the Port’s advanced bar code inventory management as opposed to the traditional hand-written forms.  Today, Port customers such as the David Oppenheimer Group and DNE World Fruit Sales, Inc., for example, use Eloads to electronically notify the Port about their upcoming distribution orders.  Their offices are connected via a high-speed dedicated fiber optic line to the Port’s computers, which enables the customers and the Port to be updated about the handling of each delivery order in “real time”.  These communication systems are protected by “fire walls" and other security measures.

When a customer sends out a truck to the Port to load cargo, an advanced notification is sent to Eloads, ordering the specific products to be prepared for delivery.  Then, Eloads sends a message to the Port’s customer service group to start preparing the order.  At that stage, Eloads will indicate that the load is being prepared.  The following day or even several hours later, while the truck is on its way to the Port, the Shipping and Handling department prepares the load instructions using the Port’s bar code inventory system to identify the load number and the customer number.  When a truck driver submits his order at the Shipping and Handling department, the driver receives instructions and takes them to the warehouse for loading.  Through Eloads, the customer service team at the Warehouse scans the pallet’s bar codes and sends it instantly to the customer for approval.  Upon the customer’s electronic confirmation of the cargo, a Bill of Lading is issued, and the truck leaves the Port for distribution.

This automated procedure insures accurate and more efficient loading because every pallet of cargo is scanned and receives approval for loading before it is loaded onto the truck or verified before the truck leaves the Port.  “To date, Eloads has proved to be a very accurate and reliable quality control tool for our distribution.  Since the beginning of this program last April, we have electronically processed 5229 loads, which equals 57,342 pallets in 9606 different combinations of variety, size, color, grade etc.  Out of 57,342 pallets, only 4 were misshipped which is a very low error margin, and we are very proud of that”, says Inigo Thomas, Director of Technology Solutions at the Port of Wilmington.

Through Eloads the customer and the Port have accurate inventory control at all times, which has a direct impact on the customer’s sales and their customer services.  “As we prepare for the imports of the Chilean fruit season, we offer the Eloads services to all of our customers, and look forward to helping them install this type of communication.” Thomas adds.

2849 To Go…

Last Thursday, the AutoPort Group processed and loaded their second largest car shipment in 10 years.  Around 3000 Ford and General Motors vehicles rolled onto HUAL’s M/V Cattleya Ace at Wilmington’s dock on their voyage to the Middle East.  Automobile experts believe that this large shipment may signal a new wave of growth in the export of American cars to the Middle East.  From Wilmington, The M/V Cattleya Ace will carry Fords’ and General Motors’ newest models to Kuwait, Qatar, Jeddah, Dubai, Oman and Dammam. 

AutoPort is a leading port processor on the US East Coast offering customized vehicle handling solution for the export and domestic markets.