Cargo Controller offers two different views which you can use to track the status of a vessel or your cargo, respectively. You can find them in the blue bar on the left side of the screen.
1. Cargo:
Track the status of your cargo, including B/Ls, equipments, vessel, own reference, terminal, follow-up arrangements and Status. The cargo screen contains various views:
• ‘All cargo’: all B/Ls linked by your organisation. Cargoes you have added yourself are marked as Favourites (star icon).
• ‘My cargo’: Cargoes you have added or marked as Favourites yourself.
• ‘Not yet known’: Cargo added by your organisation but not (yet) known to Portbase
The cargo view offers you various filter and search options which you can use to easily find your B/Ls. By means of selection boxes, you can select multiple B/Ls to quickly perform follow-up actions such as a Notification Local Clearance.
2. Vessels:
Track the status of a specific vessel, including ETA/ATA, ETD/ATD, terminal and linked cargo.
By clicking on the i-icon by the status of a B/L, you can see the status of your cargo.
A description of all the possible statuses is given below
Vessel Status:
Here you will find the current status of the vessel. The following statuses are possible:
• Expected (Grey): The ship is on its way, the ETA is displayed
• Arrived (Green): The ship has arrived, the ATA is displayed
Discharge Status:
• Not discharged (Grey): The equipment has not been discharged yet
• Discharged (Green): The equipment has been discharged; the time of discharge is displayed
• Discharged (different terminal) (Orange): The equipment has been discharged at a different terminal than originally planned; the time of discharge is displayed
• Discharge unknown (grey): The ship has departed but no discharge confirmation is known to Portbase. Please note: This can be caused by the incorrect submission or processing of a discharge confirmation.
Inspection Status
• Unknown (Grey): No inspection has been notified by customs (yet). The status bar turns green if no inspection has been notified after the container has been discharged.
• Scan Inspection (Orange): A scan inspection has been notified by Customs; the time of the notification is displayed
• Physical Inspection (SIT) (Red): A physical inspection in the State Inspection Terminal (SIT) has been notified by customs; the time of the notification is displayed
• Physical Inspection (terminal) (Orange): A physical inspection in the inspection bay at the terminal has been notified by customs; the time of the notification is displayed
• Blocked (Orange): The equipment has been blocked by customs pending the inspection of other equipments in the shipment; the time of the notification is displayed
• Released (Green): Customs has completed the inspection and the equipment has been released; the time of the release is displayed
Import Document Status:
• Import document unknown: No Notification Import Documentation has been sent to the terminal yet
• Import document known: A Notification Import Documentation has been sent to the terminal; the time of submission is displayed
Tracking cargo
1. You can track new cargo by adding it using the ‘Add’ button.
2. Enter the (Master) Bill of Lading (‘B/L’) and the transport equipment number.
3. Optionally, you can also enter your own reference, so that you can quickly find this cargo.
4. Select ‘save’
5. You will receive a confirmation of the B/Ls you have added and can view the details of the B/L.
• A B/L is usually notified to Portbase by the shipping company one week before arrival. If you add the B/L before this time, Cargo Controller will list it as ‘not yet known’.
• If the B/L is not (yet) known, the B/L will be placed in the ‘not yet known’ screen. See ‘Overview of the service’.
• If the B/L details have been entered incorrectly, you can delete the B/L. The B/L will then not be placed in the ‘not yet known’ list.
• If you know which vessel your cargo is being shipped on, you can already start tracking the ship.
• You can also delete cargo you have started tracking via the cargo details.
Tracking cargo in your personal overview
Cargo Controller makes a distinction between the cargo you are tracking and cargo that is being tracked by your organisation.
1. Cargo which you add yourself is automatically displayed in the ‘all cargo’ and ‘my cargo’ screens. Cargo added by your colleagues will only appear in ‘all cargo’.
2. You can add or delete cargo in your personal screen by clicking on the asterisk to the left of the B/L number.
Tracking vessels
1. If you only want to track the status of a vessel, select ‘add’ and then ‘add vessel’.
2. Enter the vessel name, the IMO code or the Call Reference Number.
3. From the search results, select the vessel you want and click ‘add’.
4. The vessel has now been added to your vessel overview.
Tracking vessels in your personal work environment
Cargo Controller makes a distinction between the vessels you are tracking and vessels being tracked by your organisation.
1. Vessels you add yourself are automatically displayed in the ‘all vessels’ and ‘my vessels’ screens. Vessels added by your colleagues will only appear in ‘all vessels’.
2. You can add or delete vessels in your personal screen by clicking on the asterisk to the left of the vessel name.
Tracking multiple B/Ls in one go (batch upload)
You can enter multiple B/Ls at the same time by means of an Excel file
1. Select ‘add’
2. At the bottom of the ‘cargo’ section, you will find the ‘upload file’ button and a link to the Excel template.
3. Complete the Excel template with the required data (B/L number, equipment number and optionally your own reference) and save the file to your computer.
4. Click ‘upload file’ and select the Excel file you just saved, then click ‘upload’.
5. You will receive a confirmation of all B/Ls successfully and not successfully added.
a. Successfully added B/Ls are automatically added in Cargo Controller.
b. B/Ls not successfully added do not meet the criteria. An explanation for the rejection will be displayed. You can manually correct or delete the data.
c. Click ‘save’; the corrected B/L data will now be added to Cargo Controller.
By clicking on ‘Details’ beside a B/L, you can view the details of your cargo. Here you will find information about the voyage, the B/L, the cargo and the equipments. A timeline is also visible in which you can see the history of the B/L. By clicking on ‘Open’ beside the equipment, you can find the details and status of the cargo in the specific equipment. In the details screen, you can also delete a B/L from Cargo Controller.
Requesting or releasing blocked goods description
1. Requesting
In Cargo Controller, anyone can track cargo at all times. For commercial reasons, only the cargo description remains hidden to all organisations except the one that tracked the cargo first. If you need access to the cargo description, please contact the organisation that initially added the cargo. You can see which organisation that is in the details screen.
2. Releasing
If you added the cargo first in Cargo Controller, you can view the cargo description. You also have the option of unhiding the description for organisations that started tracking the cargo after you. You can do so in the details screen by clicking the ‘Release’ button. By doing so, you release the cargo description for organisations that added the cargo in Cargo Controller after you.
Printing the cargo details
In the details screen, you will see two different print options:
• Print: This allows you to make a digital printout of all the information known for the B/L, which you can use for your own records or share with your customer. The file will be made available as a PDF.
• Download delivery order: If you have made a Notification Local Clearance, you can also download the delivery order directly from Cargo Controller, which you can then use during transport or when storing goods in the customs warehouse.
View history in Timeline
You can view the history of the B/L in the Timeline. This shows you all the changes and important status moments since the B/L was originally registered. For example, changes to the cargo, equipment discharge events and any customs inspections. You can also see which colleagues within your organisation have performed actions on the cargo.
Deleting cargo
You can also delete a B/L from Cargo Controller via the details screen. By doing so, you are deleting the B/L for your entire organisation, which means you are no longer tracking it. If you later want to track the B/L after all, you will have to add it in Cargo Controller again.
A description of the possible vessel statuses is given in the following overview.
Vessel details:
In the vessels overview you can see the details of the ship.
1. Click on ‘details’ for the vessel you want.
2. In the overview displayed you will find information about
• The vessel visit
• Berths*
* Note: here you will see the first terminal in the port where the vessel docks. If the equipments of a tracked B/L are discharged at a different terminal, you will see the ETA and ATA at the relevant terminal beside that B/L.
With Cargo Controller, you can easily perform the follow-up actions you currently perform in separate Portbase services. It is currently possible to send a Notification Local Clearance and/or a Notification Import Documentation from Cargo Controller. You can perform a follow-up action in three different ways:
• Multiple B/Ls: Select one or more B/Ls via the multi-selection box
• One B/L: Make a selection by clicking the three-point button on the B/L line
• One equipment: Select the specific equipment within the B/L by clicking the three-point button on the equipment line
After performing this action, you will see the available follow-up actions and you can make a choice.
Notification Local Clearance
After selecting the relevant B/Ls or equipment, you can choose ‘Notification Local Clearance’. If you have access to this service, a new form will open in which you will find the relevant information you need for your notification. At this point, you only need to select the permit* and specify whether you also want to inform the terminal immediately after acceptance by customs by means of a Notification Import Documentation. You can modify the selected cargo in this screen if required. When you click send, Cargo Controller performs both actions.
* Please note: ‘Permits’ currently only displays permits that you have added to your address book via the service Notification Local Clearance screens. New permits or changes to your address book can only be implemented in the service Notification Local Clearance.
Notification Import Documentation
After selecting the relevant B/Ls and equipment, you can choose ‘Notification Import Documentation’. If you have access to this service, a new form will open in which you will find the relevant information you need for your notification. At this point, you only need to select the terminal, document type, document number and optionally the modality. When you click send, Cargo Controller submits the Notification Import Documentation to your chosen terminal.
E-mail notifications
You can set up e-mail notifications for the most important status changes. That way you can easily stay up to date if the status of your tracked cargo changes.
1. Open user preferences (the round button with your initial in the upper right corner of the main screen).
2. Select ‘Notification settings’
3. The slider allows you to turn e-mail notifications on or off.
E-mail notifications are sent to the e-mail address of your PCS account.
Screen language
Cargo Controller is available in Dutch and English. Each user can set their own preference.
1. Open user preferences (the round button with your initial in the upper right corner of the main screen).
2. Under ‘language’, select NL (Dutch) or EN (English)