Equipment Scheduler

 

This program was created to facilitate the inbound movements of containers once they are discharged and released by customs. Also the scheduler screen allows creating the carrier releases that can be sent to all parties involved and the trucking company.

Through this program SNTF (OTC out to consignee) movements can be created ahead of time, just by knowing the bill of lading number. It creates a document very similar to the TIR with the CMS information from the B/L, with the ability to be edited, as needed. The document looks as follows:

 

 

The Scheduler has four sections: Voyage Container List, Scheduled Containers, pending Containers and equipment Inspections. It has an option to refresh the information, to print the list of containers and to select the fields that you want to be displayed, as well as the weight units.

 

 

The Steps are as follows

 

1.  Voyage Container List: This is a very similar view to the Container View ; this screen view will be the first step to scheduling equipment. It selects the equipment based on job (northbound jobs, so far) and ports. It displays all containers that have been manifested; with information, such as container number, container type, status, b/l number, ports, CMS information (Shipper, Forwarder, Consignee, Notify) etc.,. This view can be modified, based on the fields that are selected, as explained before.  Once the information is displayed, users can select one by one, by clicking on the first field or by using the Select de-select buttons. All the containers can be selected at the same time. To start the preparation of the final movement of the container (SNTF or OTC), press the Create TIR button. As this button is pressed the containers are moved from the Voyage container List to the pending status Tab. 

 

  1. Pending Containers, in this screen the containers are selected to be scheduled. At this point some criteria has to be met:

 

Containers need to be alt least loaded and

Containers must be released from customs

 

If there is any inspection (x-rays for ex) users can flag the container for inspection by right-clicking on the container. This will move the container to the inspections tab and will allow internal TIR’s for inspection purposes (sent full/empty for inspection and receive empty/full container from inspection). Once the inspection is done the container needs to be moved back to the pending list

 

Double click on the container that needs to be scheduled and the following screen will come up. Populate the information pertaining to the trucking company and equipment destination if needed. This last information should be correct most of the time, since it is the consignee coming from the bill of lading. You can add comments/instructions in the bottom of the screen. This is used as a carrier release number and will eventually convert into the final TIR number

 

 

You can either save it or schedule it. To be able to schedule it, the program checks that the container is discharged and released by customs. If it is saved it will continue in pending until you come back to schedule it but the information will be saved. If the container is scheduled then it will disappear from pending and will be moved to scheduled Equipment Tab

When several containers need to be scheduled for the same consignee, the program has an option to copy Last saving a lot of time

 

 

3. Schedule Containers: From this screen the carrier releases can be printed\emailed. Several documents can be selected at the same time. Equipment master gets updated as follows

 

 

If for some reason you need to remove the container once it has been scheduled, just highlight it and un-schedule it.

 

At this point the procedure has finished, next step will be the pickup of the container at the gate to take it to the customer (consignee). The terminal will go to the TIR program. Once the container number is entered a screen with all the information will come up showing that this container has been scheduled with this TIR number

 

  1. Creation of TIR (SNTF or OTC movement)

 

When assigning container number into the TIR the following screen will come up indicating that it has been scheduled

 

 

This will create the actual TIR (same number as carrier release) and will update the equipment master accordingly

 

 

 

 

To facilitate the process of scheduling, there is a new option to remove the containers (Ctrl-Del) that are already discharged but do not need to be scheduled for example they were stripped at the port, meaning the terminal is its final destination. They can be moved back and forth . To view the removed containers simply click on the Show removed items (shown in first picture)