OOCL: An Internship Report and Examination Of Ocean Freight Shipping

by: Mario Vellandi California State University Fullerton Date of Internship: February 3rd June 4th 2003

Forward
The following report consists of not only information on my activities and duties at OOCL Deutschland GmbH and the company OOCL itself, but additionally on the nature and field of ocean freight shipping. My interest in this field, and transport/logistics in general, is what prompted me to take interest in an internship with OOCL. As such, I felt it was important to reflect not only what I have learned from my experience working at OOCL, but also the related logistics topics that I explored to connect my work to the nature and current state of the industry today. I would like to first give some background information on myself in an effort to better understand where I came from before starting my internship at OOCL. I am currently a senior studying at California State University Fullerton pursuing a bachelors degree in International Business. I have taken various business courses, but only two courses related to logistics: Payment and Documentation in International Trade, and Supply Chain Management. I have worked with various companies in the past while in school and had been active in the following areas: Sales/Telemarketing, Customer Service, Purchasing, and general administrative assistance. Although I will most likely now pursue further interest in Materials Management, I am grateful for the opportunity to have been involved in the daily activities in Transshipment and Traffic in the OOCL Bremen office while in the process of continuing my education.

Mario Vellandi

Table of Contents
I: Company A) Introduction...5 B) History...5 C) Span of International Operations...6 i. Relation to Ocean Liner Industry at Large D) Conference Lines...7 i. Introduction ii. OOCL Conference Participation a) Far East Freight Conference b) Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement c) Canadian Secretariat d) Asia-Australia Alliance E) Services Offered and Assets..9 i. Trade Routes ii. Containers iii. Vessels a) The need for larger ports iv. Terminals v. Bill of Lading a) Types of B/Ls b) Terms and Conditions vi. Relation of OOCL to that of a Freight Forwarder F) OOCL Deutschland GmbH.13 i. Branch offices and Responsibilities ii. OOCL Bremen Branch a) Marine Operations b) Transshipment c) Import Customer Service / Documentation d) Export Customer Service / Documentation e) Transport f) Sales g) Traffic h) Marketing i) Flow Control j) Maintenance & Repair k) Claims iii. Information Technology a) OOCL Internet b) OOCL Infonet c) IRIS-2 II: Transshipment: February 3rd to March 28th A) Introduction......19 B) Department Activities and Responsibilities.19 C) My Tasks..20 D) Issues / Problems..22

III: Traffic: March 31st to June 4th A) B) C) D) Introduction..23 Department Activities and Responsibilities.23 My Tasks..25 Issues / Problems..26

IV: Personal Summary A) Educational and work experience applied...29 B) Expectations and goals....30 V: Attachments A) B) C) D) E) F) G) H) I) J) Weekly Sailing Schedule...33 Container Summary Report...34 IMO Dangerous Goods Declaration...35 Freight Manifest.36 Port Veterinarian notification spreadsheet.37 Container Release List...38 Terminal Invoice....39 Traffic Questionnaire #1....40 Traffic Questionnaire #2....41 Transshipment Job Order Email....42

I: Company

Introduction
OOCL is a subsidiary of Orient Overseas International Limited, a Hong Kong based public company, and is a worldwide leader in integrated international container transportation and logistics services serving Asia, Europe, North America, and Australasia. It has a highly regarded reputation in the industry as providing customer-focused solutions and by being a pioneer in providing Internet-based services for clients.

History
OOCL was founded in the 1940s by CY Tung, with the intent of becoming the premiere Chinese international merchant fleet. Their first ship landed in 1947 on the U.S. Atlantic Coast and in Europe; the company went under the name Orient Overseas Line. In a restructuring move to expand operations, the company went under the name Orient Overseas International Ltd. (OOIL) in 1968. The following year, as containerized transport began, the subsidiary Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) was created which assumed the primary business of containerized ocean cargo transport. In respect to ship capacity, their vessels back then could carry around 300 TEU (trade term for space meaning Twenty-foot equivalent), or fifteen 20ft. containers. Their largest ship today (and at the moment the worlds largest), the OOCL Shenzhen, has a capacity of 8,063 TEU. OOCL today has 160 offices in 50 countries with a global staff of 4,000.

Span of International Operations

The companys world and Asian Pacific headquarters are in Honk Kong; The N. American headquarters are based in San Ramon, California, and the European headquarters are in London. Under these offices lie the individual countries with their respective headquarters and branch offices. In some nations, the company has an associate company through which they provide their services.

Relation to Containerized Liner Industry at Large

OOCL is largely concentrated in Asia where it began and developed into the regions market leader among mass-containerized liner carrier transport. In the larger competitive ocean transport markets servicing Europe and North America though, OOCL acts more so as a large player among a distinct group of partners. OOCL is able to maintain its market competitiveness through memberships in Conferences (next section). This business situation in the containerized liner industry seems to be the norm nowadays, with each major player best serving their respective markets but collaborating at the benefit of both expanding operations combined with better and wider service coverage. OOCL has no operations in Central or South America. Could one say that this branch of the ocean transport industry has matured in size though? With respect to the number of carriers: yes. With expanded service coverage coupled with increased trade volume: no. The general logistics service industry over the last ten years has been one of the worlds fastest developing service markets considering the scope of modal operations: air, truck, and sea. However, in the last three years large number of logistics service providers left the market while others merged and consolidated. The merger of ocean carriers Maersk and Sealand, as well as P&O and Nedlloyd are prime examples of this movement in ocean freight. There is however, still much growth in this market as trade volume increases over time; variable on the geographical region being looked at. North America and Western Europe have very large export production volumes that, although important, have only marginally increased over the last 3 years in light of the global economic recession. There is however much optimism in Central and Eastern European trade growth, complemented by the forthcoming admission of 10 new member states in the EU. The countries most watched (in order of importance) are Poland, the Baltic Nations, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and Hungary. Germany will play a key role as the intermodal transport gateway to these nations. As such, logistics service providers willing to invest and serve their neighboring countries will have high growth prospects. The new interest in these nations has influenced the expected increase of Trans-Atlantic trade. According to a May 2003 article by World Trade Magazine, overall Trans-Atlantic vessel tonnage is expected to grow by 4.9 percent. Of this figure, air-freight will see marginal growth while ocean freight is also forecasted at around 4.9% and is expected to exceed air freight expansion for the first time in 13 years. In Asia, annual production growth is larger with an average of 3%. The leading countries are China with 7% and South Korea with 5%. Japan is the only exception in Asia with its trade growth being stagnant. (source: Logistics Pilot August 2002). Although there is wide service coverage already by major carriers, volume and trade will still significantly rise among major ports like Singapore and Hong Kong with further port investment and growth among large regional ports including Shanghai and Shenzhen, and other smaller ports. OOCL is the leading carrier here, already serving direct routes from Europe to cities that used to only be covered by

transshipment in Hong Kong. One of OOCLs main competitors in the Asia region is China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO). Combined with the growth in Asian-European trade and Trans-Atlantic trade, ports like Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg will continue to grow and expand. Hamburg expects in the near-future to see an increase in container traffic of 16% with a large portion stemming from China and the Baltic Sea region. A specific issue (discussed on p.13) related to the larger proportion of exports/imports from Asia to Europe trade, is the increased costs associated with moving unloaded containers within the European continent. This is causing a supply chain headache for all container companies in countries where export demand is not as high as that of import.

Conference Lines Introduction

A shipping conference is a voluntary association of ocean carriers operating on a particular trade route between two or more countries. These associations were originally formed in the nineteenth century as a means to provide transport services for trade between England and its colonies. A shipping conference establishes uniform freight rates, and terms & conditions that are adhered to by the member carriers. Although the sheer nature of this organizational structure can be compared to that of a cartel, it is seen as very beneficial in the growth of international trade through the establishment of stable and predictable rate levels. This in turn, reduces the threat of predatory price competition. Although a conference serves as the association at large, member carriers are divided into alliances which provide the basis for a liner service. The carriers share or lease out an agreed portion of their ships to other members, thus providing more frequent services for each. At the benefit of countries and customers, liner services provide sailings on a regular schedule to and from specific ports along a trade route. This schedule is regularly updated for each ships ETA and ETD. The intervals, upon which the sailing schedules are set, are determined by the amount of cargo transported on that route. For large routes from Asia-Europe, this is a weekly service. For smaller inter-regional traffic, these may be on a two week basis. In order to keep conferences from unfairly discriminating against independent carriers through particular membership requirements, the U.S. and Germany require that all conferences that serve their ports must be open. This means they must be willing to accept new carriers under fair and reasonable terms and conditions. The formation of modern alliances began in 1994 with the formation of the Global Alliance between American President Lines, Mitsui OSK Line, OOCL, and Nedlloyd Lines. The Grand Alliance came next with the members: NYK, Hapag-Lloyd, Neptune Orient Line, and P&O). The following shows the major alliances today:

New World Alliance APL Hyundai MOL New Grand Alliance Hapag-Lloyd NYK Line OOCL MISC P & O Nedlloyd Hanjin/Senator/UASG

Independent Carriers Alliance CMA/CGM CSAV/Chilean Line Hanjin Shipping Montemar Maritime Zim Israel Navigation Co. CKYH Alliance COSCO ''K" Line Hanjin Shipping Yang Ming Line

OOCL Conference Participation

OOCL is a member of three conferences. These are the Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement (TACA), the Far East Freight Conference (FEFC), and the Canadian Secretariat (CANSEC).

TACA Trans Atlantic Conference Agreement This conference serves ports between Europe and the U.S. East, Gulf, and West Coast. OOCL is a member of the New Grand Alliance along with the following other members: Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line, P&O Nedlloyd, and MISC. OOCL serves these routes along with the New Grand Alliance members (excluding MISC) and including TMM, Americana, and Lykes (for the GMX and GAX routes). With each carrier, OOCL has Slot Charter Agreements in which it rents and leases vessel space.

FEFC - Far East Freight Conference This conference serves between Europe Asia and Asia N. America. OOCL serves this route through the New Grand Alliance. Since the creation of this alliance in January 1998, member carriers combined ports of destination have vastly expanded and service routes have become very frequent and reliable.

CANSEC - The Canadian Secretariat This conference serves between Europe and Canada. Under this conference, OOCL is a member of the Saint Lawrence Coordinated Service (SLCS) along with the other members Hapag-Lloyd, Canadian Maritime, and Container Atlantic Shipping Transportation (CAST).

Other Alliances The Asia Australia Alliance (AAA) is an alliance between Pacific International Lines (PIL), Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC), Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), and OOCL. Together they serve ports between Southeast Asia and Australia.

Services Offered and Assets Trade Routes

The following routes cover transport for Europe-Asia and Europe-North America. OOCL covers other important routes over the Pacific Ocean and offers a significant number of routes for intraAsia; those however will not be discussed here. Another route not mentioned here but in Section II, is the Scandinavian-Baltic Express. The main gateway European ports for OOCL are: Southampton, Le Havre, Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, and Antwerp. The acronym for Trans-Atlantic Trade is TAT, whereas Asia-Europe Trade is AET. Europe Canada: There is the Gateway Express consisting of three services lines each running once a week between 5 European cities and Montreal. The service acronym to Canada is TAG, while the individual routes are GEX 1-3. GEX2 is the only line that connects to Germany, through Hamburg. Europe USA/Mexico: There are five service lines running each once a week connecting 7 European cities to 13 N. American cities. The lines connecting in Hamburg include the Atlantic Express (ATXS) and the S. Atlantic Express (SGXS). Lines connecting in Bremerhaven include the Gulf Mexico Exp. (GMX), the Pacific Atlantic Exp. (PAX), and the Gulf Atlantic Exp. (GAX). All routes except PAX (which falls under TAP), are grouped under the acronym TAN. Europe Asia: In conjunction with the New Grand Alliance, OOCL offers six service loops connecting 10 European cities to China, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East. Each loop covers a particular group of cities, but the two main Asian cities covered are Singapore and Hong Kong. Hamburg covers loops A through E with the exception of B, covered by Bremerhaven. Loop F covers Mediterranean Asia trade. Loops A through E fall under the service acronym AEC (C for Continent) while Loop F falls under AEM.

Containers
OOCL has around 350,000 containers worldwide. These vary according to size and purpose. The first and most popular sort is the general twenty and forty foot length container. The exact dimensions are 20/40 x 8 x 86. High Cube (HQ) containers are also available which offer one foot greater height, 96. These containers are made of steel or aluminum (which is lighter and can bear a higher max gross weight). Reefer containers are refrigerated containers for temperature sensitive goods like food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and particular medical equipment. Cooled air is delivered through the floor to allow thorough distribution. These containers are made of steel with a stainless steel lining and are available in 20ft, 40ft and 40ft high cube sizes. Open top containers allow bulk cargo like machinery to be loaded from overhead. They come with a PVC tarp cover and attachable bows with cable sealing devices, in addition to removable container doors for easier cargo stuffing. They are made of steel available in 20 and 40ft sizes. Flatracks are standard 20-40ft containers designed for heavy cargo loaded from the sides or top, for example lumber and pipes. These are available as collapsible or non-collapsible with or without walls, and are made of steel. To suit the shipment needs of clothing manufacturers and distributors, OOCL also offers Garmentainers. These special containers come in 20 and 40ft sizes, have either a string or bar

system (or both) for hanging clothes, and offer the client greater load internal capacity and lower handling costs.

Vessels
OOCLs ship fleet is modern and relatively young in comparison to other large carriers. All of their ships are registered under Hong Kong and come in different classes with respect to capacity and purpose. The S-class with 10 ships carry within an average of 5,500 TEU. The E-class with 2 ships carry 2,450 TEU. The F-class with 6 ships carry an average of 3,200 TEU. The ICEclass has 3 special ships with strong reinforced hulls for very cold weather and ice conditions; two carry up to 3,100 TEU while the last one up to 4,400 TEU. The last ship, and currently the worlds largest, is the OOCL Shenzhen with a capacity for up to 8,063 TEU. While it has a fixed number of ships, OOCLs membership in the Grand Alliance extends their offering of container shipment services to over 100 ships. The need for larger ports Although ocean ships will only get bigger and have higher-capacities over the next 20 years, an important issue for certain ports is the ability to accommodate these massive vessels. In Hamburg for example, certain large ships have to wait until high-tide until they can enter the harbor because the water-depth is not that deep (average of 14 meters in high-tide). Even so, ships from Cuxhaven have a particular window-period of time of 2 hours within which to sail into Hamburg. While the solution for some harbors is to build further out into the sea, this option is quite costly and may not even be available depending on the relative geographic location of the port to the ocean. In northern Germany, there is a massive study into the prospect of a new mega port in Wilhelmshaven. The project would be a costly investment and undertaking, but the prospect of building a spacious harbor with the capacity to accommodate these massive vessels of the future is considered well worth it. An additional benefit of this harbor would be its ability to strongly compete against Rotterdam, already the 3rd largest port in the world. Wilhelmshaven originally approached Bremen and Hamburg into the idea of joint investment. At the moment only Bremen (namely BLG Bremer Lagerhaus Gesellschaft) has actively taken interest in the prospect. Although the long-term investment potential is quite large, a greater issue at hand is the massive infrastructure needed to support the port including larger highways, bonded warehouses, and companies willing to establish offices there. The largest and most important investment needed would be the building of a two-track electric railway to connect Wilhelmshaven to either Bremen or Osnabrck; this would need to be funded by the German Parliament.

Terminals
A terminal is an area of the harbor where a ship docks and from which its cargo is unloaded. It also may include a container yard and bonded warehouses. Terminals may be state or privately owned and operated, and may be located in- or outside of the Free Trade Zone of a harbor (if available). The commission in charge of the terminal draws up the applicable load/unloading, storage, and other applicable fees it charges the carriers. OOCL also owns and operates port terminals in Asia and North-America. These include: Taiwan: Kaosiung Terminal Los Angeles: Long Beach Container Terminal

New Jersey: Global Terminal New York: Howland Hook Vancouver: Deltaport and Vantern

Bill of Lading
This official legal document issued by the carrier to the shipper is a contract of carriage that represents the ownership of cargo, a negotiable document to accept cargo, and the terms and conditions under this contract that identify the responsibilities and liabilities of each party. Issued B/Ls come usually in a set of three originals which are signed by the master of the ship or another authorized person on behalf of the shipping company. On presentation of any of the three originals (along with appropriate payment), the master or authorized person has to turn over the goods to the consignee or delegated party. Types of B/Ls 1) Straight Here the consignment is made directly to the overseas customer or other entrusted agent to further handle the goods. 2) Order This B/L is negotiable, meaning that it can be bought, traded, or sold. There is no designated consignee, but rather an agent which is to be notified upon arrival of the goods. The agent is responsible for properly identifying to the carrier the right to pay for and pick up the goods. If the agent or overseas customer is unable to pay, the carrier (after notifying the shipper and a certain amount of time has expired) has the option to sell the B/L (and thus the goods) to an interested party. The transfer of title is completed when the carrier endorses the B/L to the respective agent or buyer.

3) Through This B/L is issued by the freight forwarder or carrier, and covers the contract of carriage for all primary and intermodal carriers used in the shipment from point of origin to destination.

Terms and Conditions The terms and conditions on the back of a B/L highlight the responsibilities of the carrier and their liabilities. This section is very important. As carriers would probably like to draw up their own limitations of the contract, all affected parties in B/Ls are subject not only to national laws, but international laws drawn under conventions signed by various nations.

Under the OOCL standard Bill of Lading, the following sections are outlined: Sections 1-2: 3:

4:

Definitions attributed to terms used, such as CARRIER, MERCHANT, GOODS, PORT OF RECEIPT, HAGUE-RULES, and STATE. Declaration of Carriers tariff to be further outlined. Copies of applicable tariffs can be obtained from OOCL. In areas of inconsistency between the B/L and applicable tariffs, the B/L shall preside except in the U.S. where the tariff provisions preside. Carriers Responsibility and Clause Paramount. This section details OOCLs liabilities and the parties responsible under specific scenarios. Where limitations

5-6:

7:

8: 9:

10:

11:

12:

of liability are unclear, they are further delegated to international/national laws where applicable. These sections outline the Merchants warrants for the authority to ship the goods that are suitable for containerized transport, the various merchant responsibilities, and the liabilities the merchant cannot hold OOCL accountable for. The Merchant is delegated the responsibility for complying with all applicable regulations and paying all necessary dues that arise under previously agreed terms and any fines/penalties that may arise. Further, the carrier considers the cargo officially handed over to the consignee should the carrier be obliged to hand over goods to customs or the port authority. Here, the merchant is responsible for any damage to goods (under listed conditions) that arise from containers that have been packed by the shipper. In handling dangerous goods, the shipper is responsible for properly notifying the carrier of the goods nature. If the goods become dangerous during the course of voyage, they may be disposed of without financial liability of the carrier so long as the merchant had made proper notification to the carrier prior to loading. The Merchant further warrants that the goods are lawful and legal to transport/export. Finally, the merchant cannot hold the carrier liable for any loss or damage to the goods as long as proper notification of the goods contents had been given to the carrier. With respect to deck cargo and livestock, the carrier is absolved from liability arising from unseaworthiness, negligence, or any other cause. In cases of transport to and from the United States however, the Merchant is responsible for knowing inherent risks of such carriage and other conditions will fall under the U.S. Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA). This section outlines the rights of the carrier to store particular goods on or below deck, without notification to the merchant. Particular international conventions apply. The final section relates to the description of the goods and the carriers limitations of liability thereof.

Relation of OOCL to that of a Freight Forwarder

OOCL has service contracts with various large clients including freight forwarders (who represent their end customer) and large corporations. Most of world trade is handled though freight forwarders who then contract with carriers. A natural question that arises, is what is the range of flexibility that the company can use to bypass the middleman freight forwarder and better directly (and more profitably) serve medium sized companies. The answer is through negotiation with freight forwarders (who look out for their best interests) and through service contracts with intermodal carriers. When choosing an intermodal partner, OOCL examines a number of important characteristics: 1. What kind of Quality Management System does this company have? This includes things like how well the company communicates with its partner over their mutual operations, and the quality of its punctuality and responsiveness. 2. How is the company organized managerially and geographically? 3. Of high importance, how well are their rates and related costs? 4. Is this companys inter-business IT services sophisticated enough to handle the requirements of OOCL?

At the moment, OOCL Deutschland has the following spread for inland intermodal container transport: 40% Truck, 30% Rail, and 30% Barge (source: Richter). The Rhein serves as a major waterway in effectively transporting goods in the West. Rail use is very convenient but is not widely used in the East, where rail networks are not as advanced and developed. I had expected truck usage to be higher here in Germany (and Europe in general) considering the small geographic size of the continent. However when considering the higher price of petrol and diesel fuel in Europe, I could understand part of the reason why.

OOCL Deutschland GmbH Branch Offices

OOCL has its German headquarters in Bremen with its own booking office there as well as in Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Dsseldorf. Two additional, although small, offices are in Munich and Stuttgart. Munich serves the interests of large clients in Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary while Stuttgart serves large clients in Baden-Wrttemberg. Orders from Stuttgart and processed through the Frankfurt office.

OOCL Bremen Branch

This branch originally was a shipping agent for OOCL, but in April 1993 it was established as the German headquarters for the company. The office is in the World Trade Center and oversees all business activities for OOCL in Germany and Austria. They also collaborate with other offices in Denmark, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and of course the European headquarters in London. Some of the main departments of the Bremen branch and their activities are as follows: Marine Operations This department has a variety of functions which are individually explained below in order of occurrence: Weekly Sailing Schedules and Vessel Shut-Off times: on the second day of each week, a Marine Clerk (MC) must extract from IRIS2-Schedule System (ITS) the applicable dates of arrival and departure of ships in German ports for the following week. Further necessary details are either obtained either from the Ships Operating Agent or (in the case of OOCL operated vessels) from the Territorial Marine Operations. The MC must then contact involved partners for late Amendments that were not updated to ITS and inform them of Vessel Shut-Off times for each sailing. The process of updating this schedule and passing it along to different partners and departments is an ongoing process until actual vessel departure. Husbandry: this involves supplying ships in Bremerhaven and Hamburg with necessary mail, spare parts, and the process of notification of special lists (reefer, dangerous goods, and awkward cargo) between affected parties. What follows is a lengthy procedure of receiving info and notifying other parties. Copies of special lists are received through courier or email from agents of the last port of call in Asia or North America, which are then forwarded to the terminal operator at latest five days before arrival. Staff must send copies of DG manifest from OOCL and partner lines by fax to EUOOCLDG. Before arrival, staff must also prepare, sign, and send the European DG Reporting Form to the Zentralmeldestelle (Central Reporting Station) in Cuxhaven. Arrival Report must be made and forwarded to Territorial Marine Ops. After departure, a Departure Report must be made and distributed by fax to recipients within

two hours after departure, and update ITS. An additional Meldeschein has to be filled out and mailed to the port authorities by the latest the next business day. For Hamburg, some of these functions including the arrival and departure reports are handled by a sub-contractor, DELTA Klarierungs-GmbH. Container Announcement List (CAL) Preparation: After the booking deadline, a MC goes into the ODS Report System to find the CAL, then exports this into Excel and prints it out. Next, the MC compares the CAL to the final booking lists received from the booking offices and looks for (followed by settling) discrepancies including: Missing or non-corresponding container numbers, cancellations and additional bookings, unspecific cargo dimensions, and details on temperature sensitive cargo. After this is complete, the MC must print a Load Confirmation (LC), verbally confirm with the Terminal Operator on the figures and send them the LC. Finally, the MC must review the DG manifest and ensure that all DG documents are available and are reported to the Port Authorities. Container Booking Forecast and Planning: this involves the communication between OOCL Bremen, London, and other Ship Operating Agents. A forecast must be made 1 week prior to arrival and forwarded to all parties. This is needed for the applicable Ship Operating Agent to correctly plan the stowage of containers upon initial loading. The details include the number and size of full, reefer, and empty containers. Port and Terminal Charges: here a MC gathers the figures for loading, discharging, and other port usage charges in Hamburg and Bremerhaven. Then the MC enters this data into IRIS-2, generates a job number, and forwards this info to the Terminal Operator by email. Later when the office receives invoices from the terminal, these must be compared to the applied terminal tariff and, when correct, be forwarded to Accounts Payable. Some additional duties include the distribution of High-Security seals (for US bound containers) to depots in Germany, and the compliance with ensuring proper Q-Seal fitting on containers containing meat of cloven hoofed animals destined to USA or Japan.

Transshipment This department handles the further shipment of containers arriving in Germany destined for Scandinavia and the surrounding region. This is done by booking on OOCLs three ships on the Scandinavian-Baltic Express Line (SBX1 and SBX2) which cover the northern cities of St. Petersburg, Gdansk (Poland), and Hamina (Finland). Containers bound for other cities will be booked by the transshipment staff to partner feeder (small vessel) companies. Further details are found in Section II: Transshipment.

Import Customer Service / Documentation This department manages the import of containers and the relationship to the receiving client here. This is done through three individual groups. Three to four days before a ships arrival, Documentation will send a Notice of Arrival to the receiving client, informing them of all pertinent details regarding their shipment. Customer Service then speaks with the client in regards to how the client would like their container delivered, and answers any questions the client may have. The client can choose either Merchant Haulage, or Carrier Haulage.

With Merchant Haulage, Customer Service needs only to release the container to the client who will make their own arrangements for transport from the port to their location of choice. With Carrier Haulage, OOCL handles port customs and Customer Service contacts the Transport department to arrange for delivery of the container to the client. Documentation (in either scenario) then handles the issuance of invoices to the client for the applicable services rendered. The last function, Cost Control, examines any excessive storage costs associated with the container and bills the client appropriately. Demurrage is the condition when containers are sitting too long in the port, whereas Detention is when the client is still in possession of the container over the allowable window period of transport.

Export Customer Service / Documentation This department manages the booking of containers for export, necessary documents needed, notification/negotiation over containers to Marine Operations, the issuance of Bills of Lading, and working to keep the client informed on shipment issues. Customer Service takes booking calls from clients and enters them into the system. They determine from the client whether the container will be carrier or merchant freighted to port, then contact Transport for arrangements or releasing the container for pickup by the client. In the case of dangerous goods or awkward/flatrack containers, C.S. needs to obtain/arrange the necessary goods documents from the client otherwise the shipment cannot be loaded. Although C.S. manages contact with the customer, C.S. contacts Marine Operations for the official booking onto a ship. When all pertinent container data is available, C.S. sends this to Marine Ops who then examines allocation status for the ship and makes the arrangements for booking, advising C.S. on arising circumstances. After this is done, C.S. advises the client of all applicable rates, contracts, tariffs, and finally the shipment schedule. This schedule consists of the ETS (sailing), ETA (arrival), BookingDeadline (to book additional freight), and Gate-In Deadline (arrival of container to port). This information can be given early to the client on an appraisal basis, but not confirmed basis until the container is officially booked by Marine Ops. Finally, C.S. sends out a Load Confirmation to the client. Documentation handles then handles two tasks. One is the issuance of Bills of Lading and Invoices for services rendered to the clients. Secondly, they compile and correct the Manifest (official ship list) for all containers loaded. Transport This department handles the transport and booking of import/export containers for clients to/from ports using truck, rail, or barge from inland intermodal partners. They additionally work with the management of Container depots in Germany, of which there are 17. None are shared depots with other container companies.

Sales This department responds to rate enquiries and establishes sales contracts, which are approved from the Territorial Trade Department in England. The procedure is as follows:

When a Sales Clerk receives a rate enquiry, they must note all details including container size, type, description of cargo, origin and destination, and any applicable DG, reefer, or awkward size info. If available, any competitive rates mentioned by the client are also noted. All this is documented on a standard Quotation Sheet form or in the reply section of the customers email/fax. The Territorial Trade Departments establish the rates given based on Conference and Alliance membership. Sales Clerks, when looking up quotations, go onto OOCL InfoNet and look up rates according to the service route in question. For any rates that arent covered in InfoNet, the Territorial Trade Department must be contacted for further advice. When a preliminary rate offer is found, it must be notified to the client by the following day. Prior to booking, the Sales Clerk must either make a CSO input into IRIS-2 which in turn sends a rate request to the Conference & Pricing Department in the Territorial Trade office, or call them personally to get rate approval. The Sales Clerk should periodically check during the day if the rate has been approved. Once it is, the clerk can begin booking for the client. If however, the rate is not approved, the sales clerk must contact the client and offer other possible alternatives, and the rate approval process starts again. For sales contracts that involve a specific amount of tonnage over a time period, the rate establishment procedure is the same as outlined above, although presumably more care is taken to negotiate and accommodate the needs of the customer. In these contracts, OOCL cannot apply a penalty to the client for shipping under the agreed tonnage/time interval unless the applied trade route is TAN. On a personal note, I found the need to confirm all rate contracts with England sort of degrading on the ability of OOCL Germany to make wise and profitable sales contracts on its own. However, when considering the thin margins on containerized transport today and the nature of conference/alliance participation, I can understand the need for centralized rate decision making. But I imagine the sub-status effect is the same on all country offices outside England, China, and to a lesser degree in N. America.

Traffic This department can be described as the circulatory system of OOCL Germany. It acts as the conductor for the volume of shipments that England allocates Germany, that it then divides and allocates among the individual booking offices. This department is further described in Section III: Traffic.

Marketing Although this department may officially exist, it practically does not. The business function applied is rather a combination of public relations and promotions. My boss in Traffic, Martina Falk, was in charge of promotional activities and giveaways which amounted to the level of marketing done by the company. This budget for all European countries is controlled and appropriated by the London office. I had wondered why there wasnt much a focus on marketing, and had to consider the position of the carrier to the end customer in the service chain. Since most all shipments go through freight forwarders, they would be our target customer. Since ocean freight shipment

has become a largely homogenized service with differentiation on value-added services offered, traditional marketing campaigns just arent feasible. The idea here then is to focus on these value-added services as a benefit to the client. One way OOCL has done this is through the promotion to its clients of using its daughter company CargoSmart for online cargo transactions. Since the product is a service and it is identical in nature to other that of other carriers, OOCL must focus on its brand image and reputation for quality service to attract and retain clients.

Flow Control This department manages the planning, coordination, and a balanced supply of empty containers among the various container depots in Germany. To achieve this, they work closely with the Transport department. This business function, I have learned, has become a big headache to carriers in general. The problem is the issue of having containers available and close to the client in addition to the desire that containers when shipped somewhere, are delivered back to the harbor full. The transport cost for an empty container eats at the revenue just made. Upon considering the situation, I wondered where a solution could be. At the moment it is not possible to correctly book specific containers for re-use by another client in the next week whose proximity to the container discharge point would be feasible and cost-effective. Could an IT solution solve this? Possibly. If we say that we make a 7 day window for clients to unload their container, whereby we then deliver that to the closest customer that needs it, it could be possible. Cancellations would free that container up again. If the client takes longer than 7 days to unload, the IT system could find another container or notify a human agent to handle the situation further. With OOCL at the moment, we have a lot of clients that use containers to export from Nord Rhein Westphalen, Hessen, Baden-Wrttemberg, and Bayern. There arent however enough containers coming into the country that are shipped to that region. A large proportion of imported containers stop at Hamburg and Bremerhaven because the overseas client is unfamiliar with the German geography and figures since the country is small anyway, the client can take charge of the shipment from the port. The container then might be unloaded by the client/forwarder and that cargo is re-consolidated to go south. The container stays in Hamburg. As one can see, its a difficult situation that cannot be easily handled by IT. I found this subject quite interesting as it is an industry-wide equipment supply problem.

Claims This department works with claims on damages to containers and to cargo. Personnel must fill out a claims form and after the process of investigation, determine who is responsible and liable for damages and for repair costs. The following questions are raised to aid the inquiry. 1) What, when, where, and under whose custody did the damages occur? 2) What are the financial costs and which insurance coverage is available?

Additionally, all relevant documentation and data reports are examined to further assess liability.

Maintenance & Repair This department takes care of the proper condition and repair of containers. If a container is damaged, depending on the condition of it, it may be repaired or be sold. Average container lifetime is between 6-8 years. Damaged containers receive a repair estimate and the department assesses whether it is costeffective to continue with repair or not. If so, attention must also be given to ensure payment for repair will be received and accounted for from the liable party.

Information Technology
The heart of all transactions and inter-communication between regional headquarters, country offices, and among various departments are ran though the companys extensive IT system. The system is based in Hong Kong and serves operations the world over. It is divided into three sections based on function. OOCL-Internet This is for general information for potential clients wishing to learn more on OOCL and its products and services, as well as clients looking for sailing schedules, news, and shipment tracking among other things. OOCL-Infonet This is the company intranet for employees, where they can learn about news, departments, notifications on events, procedure and software manuals, and access EDI and reporting systems among many other functions. IRIS-2 This is the backbone for all transactions entered, and stands for Integrated Regional Information System. Through using this system, verbal and written communication between departments regarding daily transactions and work is kept to a minimum while being highly effective. The size and extent of functionality of IRIS-2 is quite amazing. Departments though only need a certain amount of functions that is applicable to their work. Thus the interface is customizable to where only desired functions are displayed. See Attachment M for a view of the IRIS-2 main menu.

II: Transshipment

Introduction
I started my internship in February by beginning what was planned to be a three month stay in Transshipment. I was formally introduced to my three colleagues and learned about their respective duties. My boss was Jochen Allers, who along with Hermann Hillebrandt, managed the booking of containers between the SBX service and the other service routes offered in Hamburg. I was assigned to work with Markus Jungmann, who was responsible for booking outbound containers from motherships in Bremerhaven and Hamburg to cities that are not covered by our SBX service. My goals in Transshipment were to practically learn about our flow of operations and the interrelationships between us and other departments, offices, and 3rd parties. I stayed in Transshipment until the last week of March, when I moved to Traffic.

Department Activities and Responsibilities

The Scandinavian-Baltic territory is served by either OOCLs own SBX service or by Public Feeders. Containers originating from Germany or elsewhere to a city in this region will have their shipping arrangements made by Transshipment. The only exception is the city of Gothenburg, Sweden which is served by the Iberia Scan Express Service (ISX). On the SBX route, there are three ships: the Neva, Nevskiy, and Narva which can carry up to 600 TEU. The Neva and Nevskiy operate on the SBX1 route while the Narva is on the SBX2 route. The port rotation for both services is as follows: SBX1: Grangemouth \ Antwerp \ Rotterdam \ Hamburg \ Gdansk \ St Petersburg \ Hamburg \ Grangemouth SBX2: Hamburg \ St Petersburg \ Hamina \ Hamburg The amount of TEU that Transshipment Bremen is allowed to book on the SBX service is allocated on a weekly schedule from England. If the department needs to book more space, they would have to call the Trade department in England and receive approval. The SBX booking/notification process begins with the retrieval from InfoNet of a Container Announcement List (CAL). This details the containers to be loaded/discharged from/to the port or to another ship. The tasks vary depending where the container is coming from. Containers from previously called SBX cities (east or west) may need to be unloaded if final destination is Germany, or another country by which mothership or public feeder further transports the cargo. Motherships arriving in Hamburg may have containers needing further shipment via SBX. Containers from Germany may be bound for eastern or western SBX cities. As one can see, the origins of the container vary but the process of finding out where they need to go is essentially the same. Two versions of the CAL are made: one for loading and the other for discharging at the terminal. Each CAL is further divided up among the varying container sizes, whether they normal or reefer containers, if they contain Dangerous Goods (IMO), or if they are flat-rack/project containers. These two CALs are then reviewed for discrepancies and when ready, are sent to the Stevedore along with the arrival and departure dates. A Stevedore is a

company that operates one or more port terminals. For IMO containers, a DG-Declaration and Packing Certificate have to be forwarded to the terminal (if not already available, booking office is contacted), while for reefer containers a cooling order must be sent so that the specified container will be connected and be set at the proper temperature while in the port. After all is done, Transshipment will receive a load/discharge report from the Stevedore which is then reviewed to find containers that werent loaded and follow up on their shipment status. Jochen handles outgoing containers coming from eastern SBX cities that need to transfer in Hamburg to outgoing motherships, while Hermann handles container loading from incoming motherships in Hamburg to eastern SBX cities. Although I was not involved with booking/notification of SBX ships, I observed that timing, planning and coordination were the main aspects of Jochen and Hermanns tasks. Other aspects of their work included contacting the ships, receiving updates on arrival/departure times and weather conditions, and relaying this information to all interested parties. Veterinary products also have to be declared and have their documentation forwarded on time. Another task is the review of terminal load/discharge reports for accuracy and be forwarded to accounting.

My Tasks
My responsibility was in the handling of Public Feeder shipments. I began by observing Markus Jungmann and how he found containers to transship, booking them with various partner companies, forwarding them the necessary documentation and shipment details by email, and completing the process. After much attention to what was said on the phone when booking, I was encouraged and began booking containers on my second day. The process in the beginning was much about learning, reading materials, asking questions, and helping out in the various stages of the process. After enough time and confidence, I began the work process on my own while sending a carbon copy of all email notifications to Markus so that he could correctly identify any mistakes along the way. The following describes the standard process of Transshipment. First, we would regularly receive an updated weekly schedule from Marine Operations showing the arrival and departure times for all ships coming into Bremerhaven and Hamburg (Attachment A). With this, we would use the details on each ship (service route, ship name, voyage number, direction) to pull a Container Summary Report at least two days before arrival in Germany. I went onto the InfoNet by typing in webplaza in Internet Explorer, going to ODS Reports, Inbound Document, then FDR 161 CSR. Here I would enter the information from the applicable ship and issue a request for download. While waiting, I could enter additional ships and request their reports as well. Once the requisitions were ready, I downloaded them and imported them into Excel. Once here, I would run a macro that would sort the entire report into only containers that are destined to Scan-Baltic cities not covered by our SBX service. This included Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland (other than Hamina), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland (other than Gdansk). I then sorted the rows by final destination and deleted all columns other than the following in this order:
FND / FND country / container number / container size/type / Bill of Lading number / Consignee / Facility Code POD

FND stands for Final Destination, whereas POD means Port of Discharge. I then would add the following columns on the right side of the spreadsheet: Job number / Vendor / Feeder (vessel/voyage) / and Contact Agents Name. Finally I inserted a Header with the city name at

the top left (Bremerhaven, Hamburg), the ships details in the center, and the arrival date/time on the right. This report is then saved, printed, and placed in a clear portfolio. Next I would have to review the CSR to what IRIS-2 says should be transshipped. For this I would go into IRIS-2, Browse Vessel Voyage, enter the voyage code and discharge port, request display (see Attachment B), then compare the data. For discrepant or missing containers, I would go into Shipment Enquiry, enter the booking number and see if the container was loaded onto the ship destined for Germany. If so, I would add the container and its details to the CSR. If unsure, I would ask my colleagues for further assistance. Additionally, I would highlight on the CSR which containers are reefer or contain DG. With the reviewed CSR, I would now fill in the vendor column based on the containers respective destination. For this, I would look at a sheet (for either Bremerhaven or Hamburg) that shows which vendor to use. This chart is assembled based on current vendor rates for the applicable route, and service availability. Our primary public feeder partners are Teamlines, Unifeeder, with other shipments carried by Olloman Logistik and Estonian Shipping Company among others. I would then look for a release report from Inbound Customer Service in Copenhagen for all containers destined for Denmark along with the transport mode to be used. The issue is that some containers might need to be released to be picked up by truck in Hamburg while others will need transshipment per public feeder. With this list, I note on the CSR which Danish bound containers should not be booked. How these containers are released is discussed later. Before calling a public feeder, I would note which agents I would need to speak to (variable on city) and the number of applicable containers. When on the phone I would mention to the agent the destination city I needed, the name and arrival time of the incoming mothership, and the number and type of containers. The agent would then advise me the name of the ship that would be used in addition to the departure and arrival time. These details I would note in the Feeder column of the CSR. Lastly, I would note the name of the agent in the Kontakt and end the call. For an example CSR, see Attachment C. At this point, the booking is made but not yet official in the system. What I needed to do now was go into IRIS-2, Find Routed Shipments, select inbound intermodal, enter the ship/voyage details, highlight the applicable containers, and select create job order. This would bring up the Job Order screen upon which I review the details of the order including containers, selected vendor, and destination. Upon confirmation, a screen would display wherein I would send a copy of the job order to my email inbox. Finally, a job order number would be displayed on the screen which I then noted on the CSR for the respective containers. Next, I would go to my Inbox and find all the job orders I had just created. These emails contained the content and shipment details for all containers specified in that job order. At the top of the email, I would include the following information: POL to POD, feeder vessel name, departure/arrival dates, and the quantity/type of container(s). If the container was going to be loaded from CTA Terminal in Hamburg, I would have to identify that and note the ATB numbers for each container. Since CTA Terminal is located outside the Free Trade Zone, all incoming containers here must be registered with the customs authorities and will receive an ATB number. The Public Feeder thus needs this number to further freight each container from CTA. Lastly, I would also forward the respective IMO documentation for any DG containers. This sent email confirms and finalizes the transshipment order. An email copy is sent to the respective shipping

agents in the destination country as well as to Markus. See Attachment L for ex. Email, and Attachment D for ex. IMO documentation. For containers that are bound for Baltic States, I would need to additionally pull freight manifests and fax them to the receiving shipping agency. I would do this by going into webplaza, ODS Reports, Inbound Documents, and FDR 800. After submitting a request, I would later go to the printer by the Reception to pick up the manifests and then fax them to the respective office(s). See Attachment E for an example. To complete the standard process of booking containers to be shipped per public feeder, I would print the job order emails from my sent items folder, and place them in the plastic folio behind the CSR for every ship. To observe or make any changes in the shipment routing of a container (as can happen with overbooked feeders), we use Edit Shipment Route (Attachment O). Any containers with meat products having their first European Port of Landing in Germany have to be inspected by the port veterinarian. For motherships coming into Bremerhaven, I would have to fill out an Excel spreadsheet (Attachment F) with container and temperature details from Shipment Enquiry in IRIS-2 (Attachment G), and send this spreadsheet to the port veterinarians email. Containers that are destined for Denmark but will be picked up by truck from Hamburg, are then released over the HHLA Internet Portal. I do this by going to the Hamburger Hafen und Lagerhaus AG (HHLA) website, to COAST, enter the respective port, login under OOCL, and choose Freistellungen (Releases). I then refer to my release report from Denmark (Attachment H) and enter the following information: reeder name, container number/type, and consignee. The release report would then be faxed back to Denmark. Besides the organization and filing away of completed ships, I would also occasionally go through the terminal load/discharge invoices and verify for accuracy. When correct, I would create a job order for this invoice, note the job order on the bill, keep one copy for filing, and the original is then given to accounting for payment. The invoices were almost always correct, but sometimes there were discrepancies upon which I would inform Jochen who would further handle the matter. An example Terminal Invoice can be seen in Attachment I.

Issues/Problems
Listed are some of the types of issues/problems I noticed my department faced in the normal course of operations: Schedule/allocation changes from England Heavy ice when traversing the Finnish/Russian bay, thus causing delays in corresponding arrivals and bookings. Missing IMO papers. Missing ATB numbers. Incorrect container weight on CAL; needed to be revised by lookup in IRIS-2. Overbooked public feeders; resulted in negotiations with the receiving shipping company (at FND) to resolve which containers can be delayed/re-booked and which cannot, then further advising the feeder company on our decision. Other late notifications that resulted in quick correspondence. (Other than the incorrect container weight on CALs, these issues were routine and normal).

III: Traffic

Introduction In the last week of March, I moved over to the Traffic department in order to gain a new perspective on operations in Bremen. Here I was introduced to my two immediate colleagues Martina Falk and Joerg Goldstein, and a top manager Herr Ralph Abel. Martina briefed me on the nature of what I would be doing here in Traffic and what my immediate tasks would be. Upon starting, my goals were somewhat undefined due to my insufficient knowledge on Traffic operations. I felt I would learn along the way and be helpful and to assistance where I could be. Department Activities and Responsibilities The work nature was examining booking allocations from England for every ship and further allocating this space among the German booking offices, making revisions up until date of sailing. Both Martina and Joerg are Traffic Coordinators. While both have many years experience in Traffic, Martina is also involved in Marketing/Promotions while Joerg is more of the Smart Traffic Coordinator with a passion for Mathematics. The process starts with the Territorial Trade Dept. (TTD) in England quarterly updating the IRIS-2 Static Allocation (SA) system with total allocation figures for each country. From an activation sheet showing the vessel name/voyage number for all weeks and services, we activate bookings for all ships in a given week for Germany. The total allocation is initially split up by offices according to a defined template in IRIS-2. Once done, this allows all booking offices in Germany to begin booking for that ship three to four weeks ahead of sailing. For the next three weeks then, the current booking versus prospect status for each ship is reviewed by a Traffic Coordinator who looks at the total TEU and Tonnes allocated (for Germany and the offices), how much is booked thus far for each office, and how much is prospected to be booked by the sailing date of the ship. This review is drawn up on IRIS2, printed out, revised by the TC, updated in IRIS-2 by myself, and placed back in the stack for that week. This update is done every two days, except on the last week before sailing where it is done daily. An additional overview, which we started to use later in my stay, was the Traffic Hourly Adjusted Monitoring & Enquiry System (THAMES) which is accessible via InfoNet. The process of revision and updating allocations involved the TC calling the local offices and speaking with the Prospect/Nomination Clerk (P/NC) about their TEU/Tonne figures, and calling the TTD and advising them of current status and allocation needs. The TC can then re-allocate the booking office allocations to establish a balanced distribution on total German figures among offices with high and low bookings/prospects. These

changes must be verbally advised to the affected P/NCs, and are accordingly updated in IRIS-2. When booked space/tonnage figures exceed total allocation to Germany, the TC must contact TTD and discuss further options. If the figures are over allocation, TTD will try and accommodate Germany by looking at other countrys bookings/prospects and see if their allocations could be reduced and given to Germany instead. When TTD only partly confirms an allocation increase, each office is advised on reviewing the necessary cargo based on the following criteria: VIP accounts, High contribution cargo, and the proportion of required additional allocation to that offices entire allocation. If allocation increases are not possible, the TC must advise the P/NC at overbooked offices on nominating containers for shut out/transfer, and give a time frame to do so. The P/NC at the Sales office must then nominate cargo based on the following criteria: Containers previously nominated should not be re-nominated Consolidated cargo should not be nominated Contribution Cargo Weight Customers previously affected by nomination of containers Port/Pair combination Other factors as advised by Traffic/Sales Co-ordination section
(source: ODGM ISO Manual, Sales, ISP02)

The P/NC relays to the TC then this nomination list, which will reflect order of priority for shipment. After finalizing arrangements with the local P/NC, the TC may then forward this list to Marine Operations in Bremen, Rotterdam, or Antwerp. The overbooked cargo is then either delayed until the following week for shipment or is moved onto another vessel/service bound for the same city. As storage costs increase per day, the best effort is made to ensure containers are shipped on schedule. As soon as cargo is confirmed by the Port Office as not being shipped, the P/NC must call the customer and inform them of the nominated cargo and offer alternatives. A CSU Clerk is then notified on what shipping arrangements had been made, and revise booking to reflect this change. When regional bookings are short of allocation, the TC will adjust the extra allotment among other booking offices where needed. If other booking offices cannot completely absorb this surplus, the TC must be relay this to TTD so that they can reduce the total German allocation and re-allocate this among other nations that may need more space. Once a ship has sailed, the prospect and booking numbers in IRIS-2 will receive final revisions over the following three weeks to match prospects to actual booking numbers and reflect regional changes to IRIS-2 that were not immediately made after the sailing date. One final necessary task is the update of the Datenbank Bremische Hfen (DBH), or the Bremen Harbor Database. This is discussed in the following section.

My Tasks My responsibilities in Traffic were primarily the activation of ships for allocation/booking, the update of TEU/Tonnage allocations and prospects, and the entering of ships into the DBH. With activation of ships, it was a matter of looking at the week/service spreadsheet (activation sheet) which would tell you the ship/voyage number in a table. Every week we update this schedule for the upcoming weeks by querying IRIS-2 in Browse Vessel Schedule under the service route, and note this on the activation sheet. We begin by activating, once a week, all ships for booking four weeks ahead of arrival. The two IRIS-2 functions I use are Find Allocation and Browse Allocation. I take the ship/voyage number and query IRIS-2 to see if it is available yet. If so, I open Germanys empty allocation table, go copy template from which then opens a window to find the ship whose template is needed. Usually we select the template of the previous weeks ship on this route. Sometimes due to allocation changes, the templates TEU/tonnage figures are above or below what has been actually allocated from TTD. Since I was unfamiliar with appropriate allocation numbers to give, I asked for Martina or Joergs advice when the figures were disparate. When the template matched allocation, I selected activate voyages to complete the process and allow booking for this ship by all offices. Next was the continuous update of all ships booking/allocation sheet (B/AS) for the window of 3-4 weeks, and for final updates on departed ships. After activating a ship, we would also print out an initial B/AS to start a new weekly stack. I would give these new printouts to Joerg, three at a time, who would then speak with the various parties and handed them back to me with updated figures. I would then update IRIS-2 with the new allocation figures, make a new printout, and call up the next ship. This cycle of printing and updating constituted my primary work. At the same time though, there is quite a bit of calculation needed in the process when trying to match total figures allocated. Sometimes the number of 20s and 40s allocated were fixed, making the distribution totals difficult to add up to the correct allocation needed. In times of difficulty, I asked one of my colleagues for help. The last major task was updating the DBH system. In a binder in the office, we have listed the outgoing ships for various routes along with their vessel code, arrival/departure time, and the ship number. I would have to update this schedule weekly with new ships for the upcoming weeks, and revise arrival/departure times in the binder according to new dates in IRIS-2. This I would do by looking at the activation sheet for ships, checking Browse Vessel Schedule, then used Find Vessel (Attachment N) to obtain the vessel code, and filled all this data in. I would add one ship for all the service routes in the binder. I would then use NetMeeting to call into the DBH system, enter the login info, and proceed to the ship schedule screen where all incoming/outgoing ships in Bremerhaven are registered. Since OOCL is part of the Grand Alliance, we have an entry for all

Alliance ships that is entered by Hapag-Lloyd. With each new entry, the assigned ship receives a unique ship number. This number is given by the reeder to clients/forwarders who need to electronically notify/submit data to the DBH for that ship. The issue is though, that Hapag-Lloyd may not be quick enough to update the ship schedules which can then lock out clients from entering data on time. To circumvent this, OOCL makes a duplicate entry for all ships to ensure its customers can access DBH when needed. I would enter in new ships in DBH along with their arrival/departure dates and note whether this ship notification is for import or export. When confirmed, I would note the ship number assigned and enter this into the binder. Before exiting DBH, I would ensure all necessary schedule updates for previously entered ships had been made. Sales and Customer Service personnel would then occasionally come over to Traffic and copy pages from our binder so they could pass on the appropriate ship number to forwarders and clients. Other than these three primary tasks, I had helped twice in the translation of client notification letters from German into English. These letters notified clients of changes in tariffs and new procedures/laws that directly affected our policies and rates given. Issues/Problems At one point, I began wondering what kinds of issues and problems my colleagues faced in the course of their daily activities besides the daily re-arranging of allocation figures between Germany and the regional offices. I asked my Personnel Manager what I could do to aid in this process, and he presented the idea of building questionnaires that I would then give to Martina and Joerg to better understand the finer details of their work. These are shown in Attachments J and K. Some of the pertinent questions, which I will answer in English, are as follows: Questionnaire #1
Q: A: What (if anything) do you sometimes find frustrating in your work? Why? Insufficient and/or too late info from LON (London), i.e. last minute allocation drops mean more effort to contact and check with Customer Service Units (CSUs), etc. Which trade routes do you find sometimes troublesome? Which are the easiest? TAN (Trans Atlantic Trade) are troublesome because there are few re-booking possibilities especially in light of the 24 hours rule. TAG also gives issues as it requires a lot of moving cargo here and there. AET route is easy because there are many loops with the same ports, and no contract customers. In relation to the question above, are there particular large clients with whom we routinely have data/booking problems? Please name a few, and their trade route. AET Timber ex Austria: often large shortfalls at the last minute no chance to move the cargo. STRATCOM (explained below): always have to be loaded and in whatever quantity, although these are the worst-paying clients. Applicable for all loops.

Q: A:

Q: A:

The second question above made me inquire more into the 24 hour rule and its effects. The issue is that the United States has a new law as of December 2002 that requires customs declarations be turned in at latest 24 hours before vessels leave the POL; this resulted in much quicker response time needed for all parties to international trade to the U.S. One effect on OOCL was to hire four additional employees in Bremen. Another U.S. law impacting carriers was the requirement of affixing high security seals upon all containers destined for the U.S. The carriers can choose what kind of seal theyd like to use, but must install a strict control procedure of the storage, distribution, affixation, and disposal of the seals. This direct effect I had noticed was the tariff increase to all U.S. bound containers. Still on question two, upon questioning Martina on TAG, the issue is this: Although we allocate booking to offices for the GEX2 service, cargo can also be moved around between the different services in Rotterdam and Antwerp, thus making more space for rebooking on our service. Although a bit complicated, it involves more than just this. Martina further explained that such allocation changes reflect a lack of farsightedness/planning. Every allocation change spells much work to be expended by Customer Service and Traffic. For the third question, I needed to found out what STRATCOM was. Martina explained this as large global accounts for strategic commodities including: auto parts, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, and merchandise for large department stores. These clients always had to have their transport demands met although they pay the lowest rates in their contracts with us. Questionnaire #2
Q: Considering the frustration with LON regarding insufficient/late info, what do you believe is the root problem and how would you solve it? *Being the intermediary, is there anything you believe you could do to improve the situation? Problem: Insufficient staff knowledge in LON over the work in the region. Solution: local training which can show which departments/divisions are affected. Problem: bad internal communication in LON (Marine Operations and Traffic), and bad external communication (ex: late info from Grand Alliance Partners). Solution: a global Grand Alliance Database. *LON headquarters takes over this function; no opportunity for change from our behalf.. Where do you believe the problems we face with STRATCOM/other stem from? Equipment shortage, inability to respond in time to customer requirements, short relay from clients to OOCL on actual shipments? Do you believe agents in STRATCOM have the ability to better advise or work with their clients in order to achieve higher satisfaction and turnout? STRATCOM is cheap-shipped cargo that is always protected from the top because of prestige and global reasons. STRATCOM clients always expect 150% service, without paying for it. How have the operations of OOCL Logistics and CargoSmart affected the course of your work: Positive, Negative, Neutral?

A:

Q:

A:

Q:

A:

OOCL Logistics: neutral, since 99% of it is AET and doesnt affect Traffic. CargoSmart: Positive: Clients can check/enter a lot of info on their own without CSU. Negative: Garbage-in Garbage-out; i.e. wrong schedule information in IRIS-2 is also passed on to clients. Re-booking is not as easy.

From the first question, I hoped to learn what the problem and aggravation toward London was about. I had learned from my Personnel Manager that the underlying problem was the lack of trained/knowledgeable staff in London that were sufficiently regionally aware of the trade volumes and issues from other European OOCL offices. However, communication problems as mentioned above, existed as well. The notion of a global Grand Alliance database made sense and would seem to help all affected parties be more aware of the current schedule status. Administration for this would naturally be in England, with various access functions given to the national offices. In regards to the second question, I learned that STRATCOM clients are spoiled but have to be so because of the volume of trade they give us and the weight their company name carries. This is the same for any business. The last question was meant to see if the operations of the subsidiary companies had any direct impact on Traffic operations. The answer was no; but particular benefits and disadvantages from Martinas view helped me to understand their relationship to OOCLs operations.

IV: Personal Summary

Educational and Work experience applied After much formal education in various business courses and experience working for different types of companies/positions, I applied what I had learned and done thus far into the course of my daily activities at OOCL. From education, I applied computational and analytical skills I had acquired in Financial & Managerial Accounting, and Computer Science (including MS Office, and other software). These helped me when working in Transshipment with the entering, reviewing, and forwarding of bookings and documents to partners. In Traffic this helped me to look at booking/prospect printouts and properly scan for discrepancies and figure differences. A specific course that helped me to better inquire about and understand OOCLs organization and operations was Management: Organizational Behavior. This course taught me to better understand how productive and healthy organizations thrive under good management that understands, and is accessible to, employees. When coming to OOCL Germany, it was quite interesting in seeing how the various departments worked with each other and how problems are raised, discussed, and solved. I found the tightknit community at OOCL a very productive and well-functioning concern, with as few employees as needed to maximize employee productivity (thereby saving personnel costs, the largest expenditure for any firm) and thus enhancing each employees sense of worth and contribution to the firm. This last point is very important, especially for Germans who strive to learn a trade into which they can grow and feel confident, secure, and important to the company. Motivation is a key aspect to promote, but it must be backed up by confidence in the company direction and complemented by the feeling that each employee can make a difference in their work. This is ideal, but diversions exist for varying reasons. While at the OOCL German headquarters, I sensed a strong sense of motivation among the interdependent departments; company confidence was high and employees felt important due to the staff volume. The only thing I perceived that sort of subjugated this feeling among staff was the sense of inability of London to work on the same attention/performance par as would be favored. It is not so much a feeling of aggravation by Germans toward this needs to be approved, and this, that, etc, but rather that my partner/boss doesnt understand my needs. In a basic sense, this is what the feeling boils down to and was reflected in the suggestion for better training in London (see Section III, Issues/Problems, Questionnaire #2). OOCL Germany is confident on expanding its operations; the matter is having a healthy relationship with your partner to take you there, without much hassle. Two Business Writing courses helped me to translate and properly write two client notification letters from German to English while in Traffic. The goal of such writing is to be direct, short, and concise; this is how I carried those out.

From work experience, I brought my skills from a few telemarketing/sales jobs I have had and applied these to my activities in Transshipment. This involves organization of duties in priority, calling and establishing rapport with clients, and completing tasks in a timely manner. For traffic, I used data entry skills I had used in past jobs.

Expectations and Goals Before leaving for Germany, I was expecting an internship to be somewhat similar to what interns experienced in the United States. Long before starting work though, I had been informed how interns and their work are viewed differently from European organizations. Namely, that they are taken in as students and are taught the trade. They are not given many tasks or responsibilities; the point of the internship is to learn through observation and direct assistance. In the United States however, interns are somewhat considered free labor that ease the burden of work. They are looked at in a way like temporary employees except with one major distinction: the interns are there because they are interested to learn. The American employer recognizes this, and good managers encourage the intern to approach them with questions. This is equally done in Germany, however here more self-initiative is promoted, while in America hard work and commitment to tasks is promoted. When coming into OOCL Germany, I was given a very flexible choice on what I wanted to do and learn. Since I wasnt very knowledgeable in the field of Logistics/Transport, I felt it was best for my Personnel Manager to decide, and I was placed in Transshipment and Traffic respectively. Most interns only spend their time in one department; however I believe it was beneficial for me to be more exposed to the company in my short stay. I noticed also that there were Abis (short for Auszubildende young trainees) and Trainees that had graduated college and are assimilating into the company. The latter work for two to three years in different departments of the company, until finally landing a position theyre comfortable in. At this point, they are well rounded in company operations and interdependency. This kind of employee career training, we do not have in the U.S. When I started then, I was not expecting much work or responsibilities but rather more learning opportunities. This I received at OOCL. If I was interested in something, I could easily ask questions and do some research on the subject and learn on my own. However, I was expecting more tasks to be assigned. Although I did have work to do in general, I felt often like it wasnt enough. In Transshipment, I was very busy the first two weeks, then very slow the following two weeks as a career-trainee came to finish their two weeks there. March followed smoothly, but the 3rd week was very slow and I felt completely unproductive. By the fourth week, I was in Traffic. I do feel though that I learned what I expected to in Transshipment and that it was a great experience. In Traffic, the work was interesting at first but gradually became boring. My work doing data entry led me to feel unmotivated on the job. One problem is this: one can work with booking/allocation numbers, but not know what they reveal about the service route. This type of knowledge in Traffic develops after much experience in observing trends in

allocation numbers among the services, and the different issues that affect the operations of Traffic. Certainly not something I could easily observe and understand from my work alone. In addition, I felt like there wasnt much attention paid to me to teach me something new or observe how a process/procedure works. In May, I was advised to ask my colleagues some questions that would help me better understand the nature of their work. Doing this had greatly helped me understand the issues that Traffic had to deal with and the nature of their work. A problem though, was my work (data entry) hadnt changed although I better understood the work of the department. I still felt underutilized, unmotivated and that there was nothing much I could do about it. I could work quickly, but if I did, I would often have to wait until updates are given back to me which leaves me only with more idle time. I know now that I should have recognized and communicated my feelings earlier so that possibly I could have done my last six weeks in another department. I did not though, and the issue was presented to me and I am thankful that it was. The last three weeks I was released early to finish my internship report In all, I must say that I had an incredible time working at OOCL. I feel like I accomplished my main goal of learning about the ocean freight transport industry and how efficient German organizations are run. Although I had expected more responsibilities and attention in the latter half of my stay, while the organization expected more self-initiative from me, it was a great learning experience that will definitely prepare me for my final year of university and another internship next year, wherever that may be. I will take with me the knowledge I picked up here, into my continued studies and career path.

Attachments
A) B) C) D) E) F) G) H) I) J) Weekly Sailing Schedule...33 Container Summary Report...34 IMO Dangerous Goods Declaration...35 Freight Manifest.36 Port Veterinarian notification spreadsheet.37 Container Release List...38 Terminal Invoice....39 Traffic Questionnaire #1....40 Traffic Questionnaire #2....41 Transshipment Job Order Email....42