Hinterland Container Notification Rail

Instruction – Slot Agreements

ECT Delta, Euromax & RWG

In the following steps, we will explain the procedure when using templates.

Process agreements

Process agreements

A number of process agreements are in place regarding the notification of trains:

  • The terminal registers all slot requests in HCN Rail according to the schedule (the railway timetable).
    • In week 3 of the current month, the slot requests for the following month are registered. For example: in week 24 (the third week of June), the slot requests for the month of July are registered.
  • The rail operator uses slot requests to generate visits. A visit is a series of calls to rail terminals in the port of Rotterdam.
    • 100% of the visits are registered by the rail operators.
    • Every Thursday, the visits are registered for the following week. This week runs from Tuesday 07.00 a.m. to Tuesday 07.00 a.m. For example: on Thursday 14 July, the visits that commence on or after Tuesday 19 July, 07:00 a.m., to Tuesday 26 July, 07:00 a.m., are registered.
    • Ad Hoc visits are also reported in HCN. This can be done at another time.
  • The terminal assesses the registered visits, which are either accepted or rejected.
    • The terminal does not reject visits that have been submitted in accordance with a time slot.
    • As long as a visit has not been accepted, the loading/unloading list is not shared with the terminal. This means that container pre-notifications are queued in HCN and that these cannot be delivered or collected until the visit has been accepted.
  • The rail operator cancels a visit if the agreed time slot is not used. The visit will be canceled as soon as this is known to the rail operator.
1Create a template trip

Create a template trip

Create a trip in which you link the visit to the terminal’s slot appointment.

If you work from the HCN screens, you will find detailed instructions on the HCN Rail support page, “Instruction – rail rotation templates”. If you have an API system link between your TMS and HCN, you will find the use cases here.

2Check the trip in the operator screen

Check the trip in the operator screen

Generate trips for a specified date range from the template. Check these trips in the Rotations screen.

On the left side of the screen, the status of the visit is listed for each visit. The plane indicates that the request has been submitted. A green check mark means that the pre-notification has been accepted. A red cross indicates that the terminal has rejected the visit. The visit can be modified and resubmitted. If a visit is rejected, the terminal will also add the reason for this.

The screen also shows how the requested visit relates to the slots.

In the overview below:

  • ECT Delta visit has been registered and matches the slot
  • APMIITEST visit has a different ETD from the slot
  • RWG visit has a different number of discharges compared to slot
  • The EUROMAX visit is an ad hoc visit, in other words, it has no slot

3Cancel a visit

Cancel a visit

The moment a requested visit is ready to be performed, it needs to be canceled. Go to the visit and click on ‘cancel visit’. The terminal receives a notification of the cancellation.

If you work from the screens, go to the visit and click on “Cancel visit”.

If you have an API system link between your TMS and HCN, you will find the use cases here.

The terminal receives a notification of the cancellation.

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