The Port of Rotterdam has announced that major shipping lines in Rotterdam will connect all their customers with container cargo from North America to the Secure Chain.
Starting from 1 July, they will no longer issue PIN codes to this customer group, reported the port.
Import containers will only be securely and reliably released via the Secure Chain. This procedure has already been successfully implemented in practice for cargo from Latin America since 31 March.
In the second half of 2024, the shipping lines will further extend the Secure Chain to other sailing areas. The ambition is to handle the import containers of as many customers as possible in Rotterdam using the new secure and reliable approach without a PIN code by the end of 2024. Ultimately, the Secure Chain will be in effect for all cargo.
The shipping lines previously announced that they would give priority to connecting their top 100 customers; this will now take place in parallel with the introduction of the Secure Chain per sailing area.
The shipping lines participating in the Secure Chain are CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Maersk, Marfret, MSC, ONE, OOCL, Yang Ming and ZIM.
READ: Port of Rotterdam surpasses €800 million
The Secure Chain is a cooperation between the business community and authorities to digitally boost the resilience of the port logistics processes. One of its most significant components is the more secure and reliable release and collection of import containers in the Dutch ports, according to the port.
In a closed logistics chain that solely comprises familiar, authorised parties, companies digitally pass on the authorisation to securely collect a container at the terminal to one another.
Only an inland operator that has been authorised through the Secure Chain can pre-notify its arrival at the terminal and next gain access. The use of PIN codes, which are susceptible to potential abuse, is reportedly eliminated.
To a great degree, the Secure Chain works via the Port Community System of Portbase, the neutral logistics platform for the Dutch ports.
Earlier this year, the first staff of the New Energy Taskforce (NET) began working at the Port of Rotterdam to assist businesses in dealing with grid congestion.
