As of today, Tuesday 9th January 2024, it is possible to add an extra rail operator on a rotation within the service Hinterland Container Notification (HCN) Rail. With this, Portbase is responding to the strong market need made known by rail operators.
The designated extra rail operator can send in pre-notifications to the terminals on the visits scheduled on this rotation. The operators are charged for the pre-notifications they send in themselves.
The procedure with implementation of this new functionality is:
For more information, please visit the HCN Rail Quick Start Guide.
You can work more efficiently. Because the extra rail operator can create his own pre-announcements, this saves the main operator time. In addition, the extra rail operator has all the information in one portal; in addition to his own rotations, the rotations assigned as extra rail operator are also visible. This reduces the need for communication between the main operator and the extra rail operator. This new way of working gives both parties insight and ensures efficiency.
This new functionality changes the way of working. Namely, you must now designate the extra rail operator on the rotation. This can be done via the HCN Rail web screens, but also via a system link.
To designate a extra rail operator as the lead operator via a system link, you must invoke the ‘Update cargo declarant’ endpoint through your API. Contact your software supplier to check if adjustments are needed for this.
You must be connected to HCN Rail as a rail operator to be assigned to a rotation as a extra rail operator. Connecting to HCN Rail can be done via web screens or via a system link.
It was tested with the three deep-sea terminals connected to HCN Rail that the extra rail operator can send in pre-notifications under another operator’s train. This proved to work successfully at all terminals.