APM Terminals launches two further APIs this month
APM Terminals launched two further APIs this month and increased the number of terminals providing real-time data via its APIs. The company believes that if other supply chain partners followed this lead, it could significantly improve the competitiveness of the catchment areas supported by its terminals, according to the company's release.
APM Terminals has already offered APIs to monitor vessel schedules and plan and monitor import and export containers since last year.
With the launch of an Empty Container Returns API this month, containers passing through APM Terminals facilities can be followed in real-time throughout the complete terminal cycle.
APM Terminals Maasvlakte II in Rotterdam and SFCT in Miami also started feeding the company’s APIs with real-time data this month, bringing the total number of terminals to 13, and plans to add further terminals throughout this year.
APIs enable customers’ own logistics or transport management tools to be fed with data from APM Terminals Terminal Operating System (TOS). APIs are therefore only as effective as the data they transmit. Over recent years, APM Terminals has invested in technologies that have made TOS data increasingly accurate and even more ‘real time’, such as Radio-frequency identification (RFID), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), GPS based Position Detection Systems and 4G LTE networks.
With highly reliable data now automatically being fed into customers’ own transport management systems via APM Terminals’ APIs, customer supply chains become increasingly efficient. Transfers between different modes of transport happen with minimum delay or interruptions due to data entry errors or missing paperwork.
This significantly improves a company’s competitiveness, with goods getting to customers faster, less time and fuel spent on transport, and improved reliability and predictability, which reduces waste and stock holding.
The National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation’s Logistics Data Bank (LDB) project in India has taken this approach. In a first step, it is helping track containers continuously from the port of Pipavav to Container Freight Stations (CFSs), Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and end users using RFID. As a next step, APIs could provide additional data to increase visibility further.
In this example, enhancing the visibility and efficiency of container movements across a whole industrial region significantly improves the competitiveness of the area’s global trade and reduces overall transportation time across the sector. This benefits exporters and importers using Pipavav as their gateway port.
