By Heiko Krebs, General Manager of Kombiverkehr KG
Kombiverkehr is making massive progress with digitalisation in all areas. The customer portal myKombiverkehr and the KV4.0 data hub are two milestones for the company’s customers. Internal processes are also being digitally improved and optimised. An interim assessment and an outlook.
Anyone who wants to operate intermodal transport successfully has to reconcile several things: a complex network, increasing customer requirements and high service quality at marketable prices. Trust and predictability are also becoming increasingly important in these times. This is because disruptions, for example due to roadworks on the tracks, are unfortunately often at the expense of quality and punctuality. And it is unfortunately to be feared that we will also have to expect delays in the future. Anything else would be somewhat naïve in view of the extensive corridor renovations that have only recently begun and will continue until 2030. That is less good news. Nevertheless, haulage companies, their dispatchers and drivers can prepare for schedule deviations and react in good time.
Real-time visibility and estimated time of pick-up: In our myKombiverkehr portal, dispatchers can see in real time where their train is and when their loading unit will be ready for collection at the destination terminal. The information that we share digitally with our customers today is on a completely different level than just a few years ago. Today, no freight forwarding employee has to pick up the phone or check their emails to find out about a delay. A glance at the customer portal is all it takes and dispatchers are fully informed about everything. This makes intermodal transport more predictable and enables our customers to make the right decisions at an early stage in the event of disruptions.
Clear strategy, high investments, plenty of manpower
With a clear strategy, high levels of investment and plenty of manpower, we have driven digitalisation forward on a massive scale and have also strengthened our workforce for this purpose. Kombiverkehr now employs 22 IT specialists who operate and further develop our systems. The driving force behind these activities is our ambition to become a digital operator. This ambition is no coincidence: digitalisation is essential. It helps us to master the complexity of our network and meet increasing customer requirements. It enables us to exchange data with everyone involved in the intermodal transport chain. It also helps us to counteract the shortage of skilled labour. Digital tools relieve our employees of routine tasks for which we might no longer be able to find applicants. Examples of this include working with RPA (Robotic Process Automation) solutions. We introduced this a few years ago and are now using it successfully in many areas of our IT landscape. This not only applies to our service invoicing, for example, where incoming invoices from numerous different service providers are read and transferred to our invoicing systems in a fully automated process. It also applies to construction site information from infrastructure operators, which is also processed internally via an automated process and displayed to our transport monitoring team in their own monitoring tools and to our customers in their order overview. We are also constantly expanding our CRM applications in order to further improve our customer service.
Digitalisation as a holistic process for a seamless customer journey
We therefore see digitalisation as a holistic process. Every internal measure and every project with a customer impact stands on its own. However, the sum of successfully realised projects quickly reveals the deeper benefits for everyone involved. From information procurement to booking, delivery of the loading unit to the terminal, the actual rail transport and invoicing: the digital ‘customer journey’ is becoming increasingly seamless. Two current examples – our aforementioned new portal meinKombiverkehr and the KV4.0 data hub – illustrate the contribution of digitalisation to the efficient organisation and processing of intermodal transport.
The digital customer journey is becoming increansingly seamless.
Heiko Krebs, General Manager Kombiverkehr KG
Web-based and for all customers: The portal solution
With the roll-out of meinKombiverkehr, we have set new standards in terms of booking, processing and tracking intermodal transport. The overwhelming response to the portal, which was launched on 13 March 2023, shows that we are on the right track. More than 1,000 users registered within just five working days. Today, we have around 2,200 extremely satisfied users who benefit from digital processes. Dispatchers can find all the information they need on meinKombiverkehr – from timetable information and transport bookings to a comprehensive order overview including status reports.
We have barely got started and are already thinking about the next improvement: Under the project name Easy Booking, we are preparing a significantly simplified booking with a better overview. Users will no longer have to click through several pages to book a loading unit for transport. Easy Booking also takes account of our customers’ desire for greater flexibility. In future, for example, it will be possible to book a parking space at an early stage without already knowing the number of the loading unit or the actual load weight. Both can be conveniently entered later, when it is clear exactly which trailer or container is being transferred to the railway. It will also be possible to make multiple bookings for loading units with identical criteria and the necessary customs documents will be automatically imported. Once the booking has been sent, manual checking by agency staff will no longer be necessary for the majority of orders, as our capacity management system, which is also currently under development, will be able to allocate bookings to train departures independently. At the same time, our customers will benefit from the direct confirmation of their transport when the online booking is finalised and a more predictable distribution of capacity.
A new era of digital collaboration in combined transport
In addition to the myKombiverkehr portal, which almost all of our customers use as a matter of course today, the KV4.0 data hub is the second major example of a digital lighthouse. It shows both large and medium-sized companies the way to a new era of digital collaboration in combined transport. In April 2023, we activated the CT4.0 data hub and used it to exchange booking data with one of our largest customers for the first time.
The special feature: all parties involved, i.e. freight forwarders, operators, terminals, rail transport companies and network operators, use a common data hub via which they share all relevant data relating to intermodal transport. Previously, each of the players needed an interface. In order to exchange data smoothly, all participants have agreed on the standardised data standard EDIGES 4.1. The data hub is therefore a milestone in the further development of combined transport in Europe and marks the beginning of a new era of cooperation.
CT4.0 thrives on participation. If you want to be part of it, all you have to do is implement an interface once and you can start utilising the many benefits. These include tracking & tracing with real-time data, ETA/ETP information, train running data, status reports on the terminals and, of course, timetable information. The exchange of information in real time across the entire transport chain makes intermodal transport transparent, efficient and reliable. Projects like these make the sector more powerful and better perceived. Several of our limited partners, CT operators, rail freight companies and the Kombi-Terminal Ludwigshafen (KTL) are already connected to the KV4.0 data hub. In order to establish and market them on the market, appropriate structures are needed. This is where DX Intermodal GmbH, which acts as the operating company, comes into play.
Paperless handling established, contactless handling possible
In the digital age, it is only logical that all handling processes in the terminal are also digital. We are driving paperless processes forward, thereby reducing resource consumption and our carbon footprint while also increasing efficiency: if all relevant information has been exchanged in advance, only the entry check is required when entering the terminal and the driver can drive to the desired crane runway, provided the transport does not contain any hazardous goods or waste. If lorry drivers use the Conroo app, handling is even quicker and – apart from the entry check – completely contactless: a code transmitted in advance is the digital entry ticket to the terminal. Several terminals in Germany already offer modern check-in. We are also planning to offer similar solutions via KV 4.0 in the future.
These three examples clearly show how intensively we are committed to digitalisation and the opportunities it opens up for everyone involved in intermodal transport chains. Apart from this, there is another project in which Kombiverkehr is involved in order to achieve a further leap in efficiency with the help of digital processes: KiBa.
Artificial intelligence for optimising the loading of wagons
KiBa stands for ‘Artificial intelligence and discrete loading optimisation models to increase capacity utilisation in CT’. The aim of the project, which was initiated by six project partners in September 2022, is to use AI models to find the perfect position for each loading unit on the available wagon set in order to optimise train capacity utilisation. In continental transport, there are many different types of loading units and railway wagons. Bringing the two together is sometimes a challenging endeavour – after all, the load, dimensions and weight have to be taken into account. KiBa is designed to significantly simplify the optimal ‘matching’ of loading units and railway wagons. As a result, we not only utilise our equipment as productively as possible, but also save time and effort in scheduling.
Achieving digitalisation goals step by step
Our goals for the future are still ambitious. But we are convinced that we will achieve them literally step by step. Kombiverkehr KG is thus making an extremely important contribution to climate-friendly logistics. We offer freight forwarders in particular, who currently transport exclusively by road, new opportunities to tap into the many advantages of intermodal transport for their company and benefit economically in the long term. We see digitalisation as a key to mastering future challenges and strengthening the role of rail in the long term.
Your contact for more information on IT:
Christoph Büchner, Head of IT
+49 69 / 7 95 05-144; cbuechner@kombiverkehr.de
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