We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • ::COVID-19 COVERAGE::
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
Home » "Virtual container yard" aims to eliminate empty container drayage
inbound

"Virtual container yard" aims to eliminate empty container drayage

May 26, 2013
Toby Gooley
No Comments

Traffic congestion is a common and costly problem in and around seaports and intermodal terminals. It delays shipments, generates pollution from idling vehicles, and costs truckers money by restricting the number of runs they can make in a day. Much of that congestion can be attributed to drayage carriers picking up or returning empty containers. If those "empty" trips could be reduced or eliminated, importers, exporters, and the carriers and ports that serve them—not to mention residents living in nearby areas—would greatly benefit.

It can be done, contends Chris Mazza, senior vice president of business development for International Asset Systems (IAS). IAS has developed InterTurn, an automated "street turn" solution that allows truckers to hand off empty containers to other motor carriers without entering a terminal. Under this system, a trucking company that has picked up an empty box from, say, an importer posts the availability and location of the empty on the InterTurn website. Another carrier seeking an empty container for an export move in the same area can electronically request a street turn. The ocean carrier that owns the container must approve the transaction. If the request is approved, the truckers can meet at a mutually agreed-upon location to exchange the container and its chassis. The transaction is documented electronically.

On a larger scale, these triangular swaps create what IAS calls a "virtual container yard." The concept has proved successful at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where reducing carbon emissions is a high priority. "If you're going to eliminate diesel particulate matter from drayage, you have to reduce the number of miles driven," Mazza says. Eliminating the empty leg of a round trip does exactly that while also reducing the number of containers requiring storage at terminals, cutting the number of gate moves, and enabling better utilization of containers, trucks, and drivers.

Skeptics might wonder whether street turns could mean a higher likelihood that damage to the boxes would go unreported, since the empty equipment is not being checked in and inspected at a container yard. Mazza says that risk is slight because participating truckers must be registered and validated as part of an IAS customer's network (IAS's customers are mostly ocean carriers and third-party logistics service providers). They also must be signatories to an equipment interchange agreement that specifies their liability and holds them accountable for damage.

Click here to read more about the "virtual container yard" and how it works.

Transportation Technology Maritime & Ocean Asset Management
  • Related Articles

    a virtual container yard?

    Hyster to provide Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG with empty container handler and terminal tractor

    Port of Oakland opens 25-acre container yard to help clear export backlog

Contributing Editor Toby Gooley is a writer and editor specializing in supply chain, logistics, and material handling, and a lecturer at MIT's Center for Transportation & Logistics. She previously was Senior Editor at DC VELOCITY and Editor of DCV's sister publication, CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly. Prior to joining AGiLE Business Media in 2007, she spent 20 years at Logistics Management magazine as Managing Editor and Senior Editor covering international trade and transportation. Prior to that she was an export traffic manager for 10 years. She holds a B.A. in Asian Studies from Cornell University.

Recent Articles by Toby Gooley

7 ways to help new operators be safe from the start

Facing challenges head-on: interview with 2022 NFSD chair Jonathan Dawley

How to build a better relationship with your forklift dealer

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • Now's the time to be a logistics professional

  • Autonomous trucking firms launch partnerships with freight transportation providers

  • Demand for piece-picking robots gains steam

  • Report: Delivery expectations intensify

  • Empty shipping containers stack up at U.S. port depots

Now Playing on DCV-TV

74ffefae b5bd 4fd7 8d16 f1dae951010c

Cubework alleviates logistics challenges w/ flexible warehouse options

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
Cubework is the industry leader in on-demand warehouse, industrial and coworking spaces, and with industrial warehouse demand at all-time highs, is the go-to solution for e-commerce and 3PL firms seeking affordable, quick and convenient logistics space. Cubework offers flexible leases ranging from month-to-month...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • Guide to Proven Warehouse Solutions

  • Five common misconceptions about running a private fleet

  • Optimize AS/RS With Advanced Warehouse Execution Software

  • The Value of Genuine Parts and Service

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2022. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing