Container shipping lines are increasingly focusing on cost control and are turning to IT solutions to improve visibility and management of expenses. IT systems can monitor supplier costs like fees charged by ports and terminals to help carriers dispute any discrepancies in charges. Using IT to manage vendor contracts, invoices, and expenses could generate cost savings of 5-10% in these processes. Additional IT solutions monitoring bunker costs, empty container repositioning, and container stowage planning may yield further savings of 2-5% in these areas. Shipping lines are driving adoption of these IT solutions to better manage and examine their costs due to the economic situation over the past four years.

1. Thursday, September 18, 2014 CI Lloyds News Article on SVM
Carriers turn to IT in the battle to cut costs
Container firms look to new technology to get a grip on their outgoings
Damian Brett
Thursday 18 September 2014, 11:19
Having better visibility when it comes to charges can improve the way carriers manage their cash-
flow.
CONTAINER shipping lines’ increasing focus on costs is resulting in the wider use of IT solutions to
improve their control over outgoings.
Solverminds Solutions & Technologies vice-president business and strategy Gaurav Sharma says
that over the last few years carriers are focusing less on revenues, because overcapacity means
that freight rates are largely out of their control.
Instead, they have started to focus on cost.
“We are trying to say that shipping lines can’t do much about revenues.” Mr Sharma said. “It is the
cost factor you need to focus in on in order to maximize the value addition.”
That new focus means finding ways to monitor supplier costs; the fees charged by ports, terminals,
feeder operators and hauliers. “We are saying by having a better IT system you will know how many
containers you have loaded and how many you have discharged,” Mr Sharma said.
“So once you have those volumes, you check against what the ports have charged you and if there
are any differences you can raise a dispute.” Having better visibility when it comes to charges can
improve the way carriers manage their cash-flow.

2. Using IT solutions to manage vendor contracts, monitor volumes, manage expenses, handle
invoices and manage the process with accounts could generate savings of 5%-10% of the cost of
those processes, he said.
IT solutions that monitor bunker costs and usage could create fuel-cost savings of 2%, solutions
covering empty repositioning could generate savings of 2% of these costs while container stowage
auto-planning could reduce the cost of this element of shipping by 5%.
Mr Sharma said: “Because of the economic situation over the last four years, they are the ones
driving it and they are the ones asking for it.”
“They are saying we need to manage our costs better, we need to magnify and examine our cost
control and ask if the way we are doing it is it the best way.”