U.S. Chassis Vehicle Operators Plan Digitization

In 2009, Maersk Line revolutionized the traditional model that the shipping company was responsible for providing the chassis free of charge to customers in the United States. All of its chassis assets were stripped and all of them were supplied and operated by its own independent third-party chassis. Enterprise – Direct ChassisLink (DCLI) manages. DCLI has become the largest owner and operator of chassis vehicles in the United States. Currently, in addition to providing services to Maersk Line’s customers, they also serve other customers in the market. In 2014, DCLI acquired the REZ-1 information service company and used the REZ-1 information system to manage and operate its chassis vehicle business. In 2016, DCLI once again acquired the International Assets System (IAS), a cloud computing-based chassis vehicle billing service system that has further enhanced DCLI’s information service capabilities. Recently, DCLI acquired 80,000 chassis vehicles for inland transportation from TRAC, plus its original 136,000 marine chassis vehicles and tens of thousands of rail containers. The REZ-1 information system currently manages DCLI. The company has about 300,000 devices and holds a large database of information on the transportation of goods in the United States.
With the expansion of scale, in addition to providing equipment services in the supply chain, DCLI hopes to use the REZ-1 information system as the core driving force to exploit the current series of disruptive digital technologies to open up markets and provide customers with a wider range of services. Service. In May 2017, DCLI company specifically commissioned consulting companies to conduct research, and on this basis developed a three-year plan that was ambitious and feasible, and planned to realize the company’s digital strategic goals from three aspects.

Chassis bill processing automation

In the past, when the shipping company was responsible for providing the chassis, the invoice for the usage fee of the chassis that exceeded the free-use days was issued by the shipping company. Under the new management model, the use of the cost of the chassis vehicle billing was transferred to the truck company. In order to cope with this task, the truck company needed to increase the additional manpower and generate additional costs. The REZ-1 information system currently processes 3 million pieces of equipment-related transfer records related to railway transportation each year, plus 1 million pieces of equipment directly applied to transaction records. The accuracy rate of these data is 99.997%, which will provide an upgrade for the transfer of marine chassis vehicles in the future. A good example. The database of REZ-1 information system can be used to filter data through automatic processing technology, remove erroneous data, improve the accuracy of data, and initiate automatic billing and payment processes. This technology can also improve the automation of shipping chassis vehicle bills in the future. Greatly reduce the workload of truck companies. DCLI plans to officially launch these services on the market later in 2018.

Digitalization improves equipment operation efficiency

The second task of Digital DCLI is to use advanced data analysis technology to predict equipment demand in the supply chain, and to improve the operational efficiency of equipment through reasonable arrangements. DCLI invested in the ClearMetal system and used artificial intelligence and other technologies to help REZ-1 information systems enhance their forecasting capabilities. DCLI plans to implement this work in the second half of 2018, and set a target of increasing the utilization rate of their equipment by 4 to 6 percentage points. This can save considerable capital investment and equipment operation costs.

IoT and other data analysis

In 2018 and 2019, DCLI also plans to install GPS positioning and data communication equipment on chassis vehicles to actively enhance the visibility and support capabilities of the equipment. DCLI expects the REZ-1 information system to obtain more than 100 million device handover records each year. DCLI can use the huge database obtained from the REZ-1 information system to provide subscription-based analysis and prediction services to help customers develop key monitoring indicators. , improve and optimize its management. DCLI’s digital strategy is significant and far-reaching, and its digital development space is infinite.