As of March 21st , totally 245 freight forwarders have settled in Ningbo Zhoushan Port E-commerce Platform, which is operated by Zhejiang E-port E-Commerce Co., Ltd.. So far this year, the company's online business volume for imported laden containers pickup reservation has exceeded 30,000 orders, accounting for more than 98% of the total business volume of imported laden container pickup services in Ningbo Port Area. This indicates that the port area has initiated the paperless era for imported laden container pickup reservation , effectively reduced the overall logistics cost and enhanced the planning and service efficiency of terminal operation, the company said in its press release.
In the past, truck drivers had to get paper documents from freight forwarders before they could present documents to pick up the containers at the port. There were many disadvantages for paper documents due to complicated procedures for manual delivery of paper documents, long duration of payment during transport and the difficulty in improving the planning for laden container pickup at terminal. In response to this, E-port companies took the lead to actively coordinate with Ningbo Port Information Communication Co., Ltd., Ningbo Port International Logistics Co., Ltd. and the container terminal companies in Ningbo Port Area with the support of the business department of NZPC since Jan. 1st and started to fully implement online reservation for imported laden container pickup at all the container terminals in Ningbo Port Area.
E-Port Company continued to improve the business systems and functions, effectively streamlined the business operations processes and further enhanced the customer's operating experience. In addition, the company increased its efforts in business promotion, took initiative to visit freight forwarders and established "point-to-point" service communication mechanisms. It followed up and fed back customers’ needs, continuously improved customer service quality and was widely recognized by the customers. In a short period of 3 months, this business realized the basic coverage of the 5 container terminal companies in Ningbo Port area, with the proportion being continuously increased.
The company implemented online booking of freight forwarding. The truck drivers who have obtained the electronic booking serial number provided by the platform can directly pick up the containers at the terminal，thus to realize paperless operation for pickup of laden containers from the terminal. Next, E-port Company will continue to improve the paperless level for imported laden container pickup reservation, use freight forwarding electronic equipment list to effectively enhance the work efficiency of freight forwarders; further expand the laden container pickup business function, expand the scope of applicable container types, and increase the coverage of the laden container pickup services.