We want your opinion on this statement from the recent fusion meeting of the Portbase Supervisory Board and Advisory Council.
Agree or disagree? ‘Innovating too quickly is counterproductive’.
Statement:
Innovating too quickly means parties cannot adjust in time and more earning capacity is taken away from the port than is created in the short term. This needs to be taken into account in the speed of innovation so that resistance can be eliminated.
‘Absolutely disagree’, responds Ad Schoenmakers, Managing Director of Ritra Cargo Holland and member of the Portbase Advisory Council in response to the above statement. ‘You can never innovate too quickly. In my view, it always happens too slowly. Observing change and responding to it is part of operational management. If you can’t keep up as a firm, you are not agile enough. You need to be able to constantly adapt to changing circumstances and dare to jump further each time.’
Ad Schoenmakers disagrees with the statement. What do you think?
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‘We supply information and communication’
For Ritra, innovation goes without saying. Says Schoenmakers, ‘Ritra is a true logistics service provider, an organiser of logistics. In reality, what we do is to supply information and communication, in the best and most structured way possible. Not everyone wants to start approaching it that way yet, but really we are a kind of ICT company.’ Ritra clients can already follow the progress of their goods flows through the logistic chain in various ways depending on their particular requirements, from smart Excel reports to a live web portal and a direct EDI link, it’s all possible. ‘Transparency is the best thing there is’, emphasises Schoenmakers. ‘But transparency is only possible if you have confidence in your own ability and in your relationships with third parties.’ The head of Ritra notes that fortunately an increasing number of parties in the logistic chain are prepared to share information with others. ‘When organising transport and informing our clients, we can draw on that, because the human factor remains the basis of communication.’
Direct System Link with Portbase
Portbase provides Ritra with a direct system link to use the service Cargo Information. ‘This allows us to check whether the advance information we have received from all over the world is actually correct shortly before the cargo arrives in Rotterdam. As a result, we can plan the delivery of goods very precisely. Moreover, the details from Cargo Information are the basis for our customs system. There is no need to add anything to the Notification Import Documentation which this generates. It all happens automatically. Partly as a result of this, our service to customers is increasingly shifting from standard administrative tasks to specialist support.’
