What is Containers.Guide
and how does it work?
How much do you know about containers? The container shipping industry accounts for about 60% of the world's maritime trade, witha totalvalue of about $12 trillion in 2017.
But this extremely valuable industry has been plagued for years by problems such as overcapacity, high tariffs, underperforming profits, growing environmental damage, and strict regulatory laws.
It is well known in the industry that global transportation requires increased efficiency, improved processes, and fundamental digital transformations to ensure future profitability.
What is the current market situation?
Every day millions of containers with different goods are travelling around the world. Transferring by sea, rail or truck thousands of containers supply products to various fields and industries.
By right of ownership, containers are divided into two types: containers owned by the carrier and containers owned by the shipper. Entire tracking and interchange systems are built around the former. The latter is still living in the shadow - no unified base for them is made.
Due to the fact that there is no special platform, employees use outdated methods of making deals: personal database calls, emailing, etc. However. these methods are not 100% efficient. That is why our team has set a goal to develop a specialized platform for interaction between owners and users of private containers.
What do we do?
We create a cloud-base platform with information about the status, location, and types of private owned containers. We are creating a full-fledged ecosystem with all the necessary tools to help industry members openly exchange data, start new partnerships in the international market, reduce empty container moves and avoid costly storage, and save time for searching and concluding deals.
We make a catalogue of the seaports, container terminals and other companies from the container industry on all continents. For example, customs and insurance.
From where do the offers and requests come?
You publish them — we only simplify this process by optimizing the interface of our platform so that it is clear and convenient for any user. The more often participants publish information about the availability of containers, the faster requests for their one-way use or reposition, rent or purchase are received, and vice versa. This is why providing the relevant information is the key to building a useful service for the industry.
To whom?
Container owners, traders, leasing companies, shippers, carriers, freight forwarders, NVOCCs, container terminals and other container business participants are registered on our site. The platform is suitable for companies working with ISO 6346:1995/Amd 3:2012.
We attract companies with offers of private containers. Data about them is hidden from most users, although it is often more profitable to work with such containers directly. This is why everyone is looking for information about private containers.
Some practical examples
For owners. The user owns containers located in Singapore. Somebody wants to buy them in Hamburg. It would be more profitable to send them to the destination with a passing cargo. The shipper will pay for transportation, and the seller will save on moving the container. On the Containers. Guide the owner publishes an ad for the provision of a container. It is necessary to specify characteristics and route, with the expected dates of travel. After that, waits for a response from the shippers at the platform and directly negotiates the deal.
For freight forwarders/NVOCCs. The freight forwarder received a request from the shipper to transport cargo from one continent to another. The freight forwarder is ready to deliver the goods on a turnkey basis. To do this, organizes the work of all participants in the shipping, including finding a container. Is it possible to do it quickly and profitably using the Containers.Guide? Yes, it is necessary to find a container from a private owners. Using such containers is cheaper than offers from the majority of shipping lines. Then, respond or contact the contacts listed in the ad to make a deal immediately. If there is no suitable offer, leave your request, specifying the characteristics of the container that is required for cargo transportation. Wait for a response or call from interested owners and negotiate the bid.
For shippers/cargo owners. The cargo owner was unsatisfied with the offer of a shipping line for container transportation and decided to find a better solution. On Containers.Guide website he looking for suitable offer of a private container with a lower rate. Next, it is necessary to respond to the ad or use the specified contacts to make a deal. If the routes of the cargo and container are the same, the "win-win " model is triggered, where each side is the winner. The container owner will not charge a fee for using the container, and the cargo owner has to pay for transportation costs only.
For carriers and transport companies. The carrier finds an offer of a containers on the Containers.Guide website. Contacting the company through the contacts indicated on the site, offers its services and agrees on the transportation of containers for the company.
For container terminals. A terminal employee fills out a profile on the Containers.Guide platform, specifying services, detailed characteristics, access roads and capacity, so that other users can select terminals for their needs.
How to start?
The first step is registration. It won't take more than 5 minutes and any employee of the company can complete it. To ensure security each profile is checked by the administrator after registration.
Then fill in the profile information so that other participants can easily find information about the company on our platform. The last step is to create a new post. After the offer or request is created and published, you should wait for the response of the other participant and agree on the deal.
You can get a free demo and our managers will introduce you to the main functions of the site.
Is it expensive?
Containers.Guide is a free platform for both companies and individuals. The only condition for getting access is registration. It is necessary to create offers and requests and view the contact information of the participants.
Something else?
A large team of specialists is working on the development of the Containers.Guide. Having extensive experience in the container business, we are ready to offer a product that fully meets the needs of the market. Our goal is to create accessible online tools that connect container business members. Transparency and independence are important for us in order not only to create favourable conditions for companies but also to develop the sphere of container transportation around the world. We value the client and try to establish long-term relationships with the participants.
We open up new opportunities for cooperation in the global market to all users and make container transportation even more efficient.