The Secure Chain is an initiative of government and industry, which includes a new and more secure container release process. You can compare it to a relay race, where the container release right is always passed on from carrier, to forwarder, to ultimately the inland operator.
The advantage is that only well-known and authorized companies can participate in the logistics process of an import container, and the fraudulent PIN code disappears.
More information can be found on the campaign website www.secure-chain.eu
Basically: as an inland operator you are nominated by your client, which gives you the exclusive right to pre-notify and collect the container. Following your client’s nomination, a status request will automatically be prepared for you in Hinterland Container Notification (MCA), which you can upgrade to a pre-notification as you are used to.
On this page you will find an explanation of the Secure Chain method, adjustments to the process, and extensions to the MCA API system connection (if applicable to you).
In addition to receiving a transport order, as you are used to, you will have to be nominated by your client via Portbase, which gives you the exclusive right to pre-notify the container in Hinterland Container Notification (HCN) and collect it.
Following your client’s nomination, a status request (free of charge) will automatically be prepared for you in HCN, which you can upgrade to a pre-notification. You can find the status request in your HCN overview.
Containers for which you have been nominated can also be found in the Shipment screen. Can’t find a container/shipment in this overview? Then you have not (yet) been nominated!
Shipments can be displayed in two ways.
1. The Arrivals tab; shipments are shown by vessel.
Journey of the container(s), port of loading, carrier, vessel name, port of discharge, terminal, ETA.
2. The Shipments tab; shipments are shown per client.
B/L and goods information
Click on a shipment to view detailed information. Each step in the Secure Chain can be traced back. As soon as you have been nominated, your client can also check the status of the container.
If you are working ahead and have already been nominated by your client, this will show as follows:
Release of the carrier through the secure chain might happen later than your nomination by the client. The carrier will release the container through the secure chain, which allows for the following situations:
Note: there are three things to keep in mind:
During implementation of the secure chain, containers will be released through either the secure chain OR the regular release method. Confer with your client which release method will be used for the container (SC release or PIN code). Eventually, all releases are made through the secure chain. However, it will take some time before this system will be fully implemented.
Filling in the Acceptance Reference or PIN code field is mandatory.
If no release has been added to the secure chain yet, you must always fill this field. Use, for example, the imaginary value PCSRELEASE.
ECT and Euromax do not support MCA updates.
In ECT and Euromax, we advise you to only upgrade the status request to preliminary notification once the carrier has made the commercial release, the status colour has changed from red to green and the closed shield icon is shown. These properties indicate that the container is ready for its preliminary notification.
If you notice a preliminary notification was made before the commercial release was received,
To establish the link between the notification and the release in the secure chain.
Have you already started a status request or pre-notification because you received the transport order from your client before the nomination in HCN? HCN will then attempt to match your status request to the nomination and make your created status application or pre-notification leading. Note: the status request made by the Secure Chain nomination remains visible in HCN as a canceled status request.
Matching doesn’t always work!
The matching mechanism fails in certain circumstances. E.g. due to, but not limited to, a combination of circumstances, such as frequently returning containers, and containers/pre-notifications that have already left the terminal during a previous transport, but are not (correctly) completed with a gate-out message.
1. Do you receive the message; you are not authorized to make a pre-notification?
2. Check whether the container can be found in the Shipment screen.
3. If so, contact Portbase Customer Service..
4. If not, you are not nominated. Contact your client, to get nominated instead.
Would you like to nominate another inland operator for both transport and pre-notification, and continue to monitor the container status information?
You can always withdraw the nomination, and take back the exclusive right to make the pre-notification yourself or to nominate another inland operator.
Attention road hauliers: are you responsible for the pre-notification, but do you only outsource the transport? Don’t hand over the nomination, but instead enter the EAN number of your charter/temporary worker as Executing Charter in the pre-notification in HCN. Here you can read how to do that.
Earlier on, you have learned how to process secure chain containers via the web view. These actions can also be automated. To do so, implement API version 2 or higher.
Version 2 comprises an expanded Tracking API which allows you to reuse nominated Shipments and obtain additional information. Note: we know from experience that software providers usually create a queue with nominated shipments and that a regular transportation request indicates the task is ready for preliminary notification and execution. This facilitates reusing existing information.
With the API endpoint: Forward API. You can appoint a different inland operator to carry out the preliminary notification AND the transportation.
The Tracking API allows you to keep tracking the container status (Listen to Shipment updates or Listen to ALL updates). Any specifications and more information about the new API version 2 are available in our Developer Portal.
How secure chain works exactly is clarified in the use cases – secure chain: Portbase Hinterland API.