Capabilities

Customer tools

Customer profiles

• View of in progress bookings, releases and bills. All information centralised, don’t need to go to different modules to see what’s going on with a customer.

• History of all bookings, releases and bills. All information centralised, don’t need to go to different modules to see what’s going on with a customer.

• Manage all contacts for a customer. E.g. can see all customer contacts and their role in one place Control which contacts should be able to receive which e-documents.

• Manage credit terms and limits for a customer. Account enquiry to see current debtor account position for a customer.

• Set up default settings when creating bills for customers, e.g. how many copies, stationary, include freight charges. Make process of taking bookings and creating documentation smoother/faster.

• See a history of all notifications sent to a customer. No need to trawl through emails. Doesn’t matter who sent email, still can see it.

Customer services

• Ability to efficiently take bookings using an airline booking type style that steps through the process.

• A clear booking summary is displayed during the booking process.

• Rating shipments is possible at the time of taking a booking and the ability to send customers booking confirmations that also confirm shipment costs up front.

• Bill entry leverages off the booking and container receival details making it faster and more accurate for Agents to process forward instructions and create manifests.

Online services (PRA, FI, Customs EDI, etc.)

• All together now - centralised place for customers to lodge cargo details to Customs border control and container terminals.

• Automated electronic interchange of vessel voyage dates, vessel lloyd number, exchange rates, electronic documents.

• Provides customer visibility for documentation, etc.

• Encourages customer engagement, recurring customers.

Statistics

• A dynamic online query tool which provides rich information across a variety of dimensions.

• Enables proactive customer management.

• Enables strategic decision making based on specific analysis.

• Driven off manifest information and forecasting module.

• Ensures accuracy of data with no re-keying.

• Can be used to reconcile with accounting system.

• Very fast and does not affect the main database when large amounts of data is searched - Runs on an Analysis Services Cube.

Financial tools

Rates

• No more spreadsheets! Central hub for users to search and set rates, increases productivity.

• Centralised consistent rates - More secure, accurate, auditable, traceable.

• Protecting the bottom line - notifications ensure that you keep your rates up to date - Notifications for rates administrators, charges that are expiring, audit reports, etc.

• Complete Rate management system for specifying charges based on customer, containerisation, commodities, trade lanes, etc.

• System automatically selects correct rates based on manifesting criteria and rates ranking/sequence.

Financials

• Role based workflow ensures no invoicing is missed. The sooner invoicing is done the sooner you’ll get paid.

• Invoices automatically generated once bill is approved, ensuring no invoices are missed. Any further changes to a bills charges automatically generate an adjustment note as required.

• Choose to invoice customer in USD, their currency or mix depending on their preference.

• Complete history of transactions related to a bill of lading. Audit trail to see why invoices or credits were created.

• Is provided by a comprehensive and proven accounting package, On Account.

• It is tightly integrated with freight debtors, voyage creditors, and the Voyage Costs Management module for voyage estimates and cost processing.

• Up to date and accurate financial positions for customer and principal reporting.

Location tools

Container control

• Knowing where your containers are at all times - Up to date and accurate information comes via EDI.

• Maximise container turnaround, minimise stock levels - Forecast equipment requirements based on booking levels and current releases.

• Reduce dwell time costs by off hiring or repositioning containers to make better use of them.

• Eliminate manual entry.

• Container movements are automatically created from electronic messages which means free up staff to do more proactive management.

• Process in electronic movements provided from depots and terminals.

• Bulk movements on more than one container at a time when necessary.

• Full container history, with links to bookings, releases, and bills.

• Customised reporting for managing stocks, turnaround times and re-positioning requirements.

Detention

• Container detention management made easy.

• Increases container availability and utilisation.

• Automated customer detention notifications and warnings.

• Provides visibility for container detention status with real-time information.

• Seamless integration with Container Control, Customer profiles and Financials.

Documentation tools

Documentation/manifesting

• Centralised documentation.

• Draft printing where you get exactly the same document with a “DRAFT” watermark on it.

• Workflows that ensure all shipments are correctly manifested, bills are issued and invoiced.

• Invoices created in the documentation process automatically and post to financials when appropriate.

Document release (counter release)

• Delivery Orders are released by bill number and validated against incoming manifests.

• Confirmation process ensures document endorsement and payments have been received. Validates that you have been paid and correct documentation has been provided before release can happen.

• Sends EDI and prints/emails documents as an integral part of the process.

Electronic documentation (PDFs, EDI)

• Produces and publishes PDFs or EDI messages for customers. Eg. Arrival Notices, Invoices, Bills of Lading, Waybills, Booking.

• Confirmations, Detention Notices, and Delivery Orders.

• Document options managed through Customer Profile; Tailored document delivery to specific contact.

• Creates audit trail for each E Doc.

• Send draft or original documents.

• Flexible formats for different principals.

• Right documents to the right person (removes need for courier deliveries).

• A more efficient document handling process results in improved turn-around times.

• Quicker approval process for Bills of lading.

Maintenance tools

Vessel voyage maintenance

• Record the expected arrival and departure dates and actual times. Voyage dates can then be used for: finding a suitable voyage for a booking; Invoicing and revenue recognition.

• Stand alone voyages, or link voyages together. Use Trades and Services to pre-set the port and transit time templates.

• Ability to define origin and destination transhipment legs. Control were cargo can be accepted at and on-carried to in bookings.

• Set exchange rates for the voyage, or a daily rate. Link voyage to a daily bank exchange rate or set your own exchange rates for the voyage.

• Voyage allocation processes can manage the booking levels based on load port and container types. Use allocation to control the amount of bookings that can be taken when there is restricted space on the vessel.

Voyage cost management (on voyage)

• Speed up your estimation process with voyage estimate templates.

• Manages supplier contracts and rates.

• Supplier invoice creation based on estimates, with quick authorisation process.

• Port call reconciliation based on estimates against actuals.

• Integrates with Bookings, Container Control, Manifesting.

PCC/vehicle management

• Take Pure Car Carrier (PCC) Bookings.

• Prepare PCC Bills of Lading.

• Tracking solution; provide consistent, accurate and timely information across multiple stakeholders. Provide supply chain visibility.

• Managing change of destination while in transit.

• Ensuring compliance to customer reporting requirements.

Management tools

CRM

• Define salesperson responsible for a customer.

• Attach copies of attachments or emails directly to a customer allowing for centralised repository of relevant customer documents. Don’t need to look through emails, file shares, to find relevant customer info.

• Allow salesperson to update customer profile with notes of any calls or visits to customer. Share the information with everyone else involved in looking after the customer.

• Consolidated reporting allows salesperson to see history of invoicing for customer, rates and detention in one place.

EDI

• Dashboard views to enable message management. View and correct errors. Enables timely processing of data.

• Monitoring services to enable proactive management and minimise downtime. By receiving a warning when there is a potential edi service, you can resolve the issue to prevent any delays.

• Code and Translation Management. Liberates day to day management from programmers to the business.

• XML, ANSI and EDIFACT Capability

• Interfaces with:

• Container Depots

• Terminal Operators (including VERMAS)

• Customs (Australia.NZ)

• Dangerous Goods

• Port Companies

• Principals

• Standard and Non-standard messages. Crossfire comes with a library of standard edi messages, but it can easily be used to set up custom messages too.

Role based workflows

• Traditionally dashboards show information about what has been done. Sargasso shows summaries of what still needs to be done, ensures no steps are missed in process.

• Monitor the exceptions.

• Voyage driven - Make sure everything that needs to be done for your next voyage is completed.

• Monitor bookings which need container releases.

• Monitor containers where electronic receival advice has not been received from port.

• Monitor bookings which have not had a bill of lading created.

• Monitor bookings where no contract is defined for customer.

• Monitor containers where VGM is required.

• Monitor bills where invoice has not been created.

• Monitor invoices which have not been receipted.

• Monitor imports where arrival notice or delivery order needs to be sent.

Security

• Define custom roles that match your business. Only show users screens and data they need to do their jobs. Not stuck with predefined roles that make you work a certain way.

• Easily add or remove a user from a role to update what data and screens a user can access.

• Ability to restrict what data a user can see by agency, principal and port. Only show users the data they need to see.

• Audit trail of all user logins and access.

• All user login details are encrypted following latest security standards.

• Website and EDI data transmitted over the web is encrypted using https.