Hapag-Lloyd AG
To ensure global availability, Hapag-Lloyd must keep a close eye on empty containers in particular: Where in the world are specific types of empty containers currently located? When will they be needed next, and in which ports? How can they be delivered there on time? Today, with the help of celver, a unified dashboard for container situation analysis provides answers to these questions by integrating information from a wide variety of data sources. Regional aspects can be easily displayed and evaluated using appropriate filters. The dashboard provides full transparency and enables data-driven container management.
The Company: The Allure of Shipping
“Connecting the world across oceans” has been Hapag-Lloyd’s primary goal for 176 years. Starting with general cargo and passengers, the focus today is primarily on containers of all sizes and types.
With a fleet of 253 container ships and a transport capacity of 11.9 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units), the company is one of the world’s largest liner shipping companies.
More than 125 scheduled services connect over 600 ports on every continent—loaded with the distinctive orange containers.
The facts at a glance:
✓ Full transparency
✓ A globally consistent foundation for customized analyses
✓ Data-driven container management
The challenge: Managing empty containers worldwide
When it comes to global corporate management at Hapag-Lloyd, the task goes beyond simply coordinating ships, port facilities, and services—containers, in particular, play a crucial role. On the one hand, this is due to the various sizes and variations: heavy or oversized cargo, as well as temperature-controlled goods, for example, require special handling and specific containers. On the other hand, it is due to the sheer volume of containers per ship: if you were to line up the container cargo of a single ship end to end, it would stretch roughly the distance from Hamburg to Munich.
To ensure global availability, it is particularly important to keep track of empty containers: Where in the world are specific types of empty containers currently located? When will they be needed next, and at which ports? How can they be delivered there on time?
The Hamburg headquarters sets the strategy for international container movements. Operational management, however, is handled by the regions themselves. Given the large number of daily transactions and the wide variety of scenarios, the existing systems were gradually reaching their limits. An innovative solution was therefore urgently needed to ensure effective coordination and smooth operations.
“Every single transaction generates an incredible amount of data,” says Hendrik Behn, IT Product Manager for Equipment Steering & Operations at Hapag-Lloyd AG, describing the volume of data. “From inventory data and historical transaction data to system forecasts based on neural networks, we have a vast amount of information at our disposal. However, for analysis purposes, this data had to be manually extracted from separate data pools and consolidated time and again. This was not only very time-consuming but also prone to errors.”
Back then, while still working as a business analyst, Hendrik Behn and his colleagues began developing initial solutions in QlikView on their own. Their primary goal was to finally create a single source of truth for users. However, it quickly became clear that there were still some hurdles to overcome, particularly in the areas of data updates and data quality.
The Solution: Container Situation Analysis with Standardized KPIs
To ensure that the strategic direction was successfully implemented from a technical standpoint, the team began redesigning the solution in collaboration with experts from celver and Hapag-Lloyd’s internal IT department. Particular attention was paid to data validation, integration with existing systems, and the further development of the underlying logic. “Over the course of the project, our perspective changed significantly,” recalls Hendrik Behn. “The focus was finally no longer on analyzing individual data silos—but rather on mapping out complete business use cases.” In particular, the resulting Container Situation Analysis (CSA) has since become an important tool for global container management.
The central data warehouse serves as the source for the necessary information on current inventory levels in the ports, movement patterns across the six regions, and forecasts of expected inventory trends. However, the various pieces of information are stored here as separate data silos. The challenge, therefore, was to link them in a way that made business sense and to map them technically correctly.
Since all the information also spanned different time frames and levels of detail (geographic, temporal, or equipment types), this was no easy task. “This really called for a hands-on approach,” says Hendrik Behn, summarizing the process. Hapag-Lloyd’s BI experts, together with celver, began reviewing the data, conducting exploratory analyses, and applying the new insights in a productive manner. This enabled the creation of a clear CSA dashboard where, for the first time, all users can perform independent analyses using“Guided Analytics.”Previously, this was only possible through roundabout methods and separate evaluations in Excel. However, the KPIs, which were created individually, were difficult to compare with one another. Today, everyone measures performance against clearly defined metrics using a unified database. This enables comparability and valid comparisons.
More than 100 users worldwide now regularly use the Container Situation Analysis for coordination and alignment—from on-site inventory managers, regional headquarters, and global container management all the way up to senior management. What is our current equipment situation? Where are which containers becoming available? Where are they needed? An overview with four focus areas answers these questions from a variety of perspectives with a single click.
From the aggregated view, it is possible toperforma“deep dive”at any time when anomalies are detected, in order to analyze the underlying factors, developments, or trends over time in greater detail. At the most granular level, the current inventory and expected inventory trends can be tracked for each container type and location.
“The solution and user requirements expanded step by step as the project progressed,” explains Hendrik Behn. Thanks to the iterative approach, new aspects and feedback from the business departments could be quickly integrated and implemented. This led to a very high level of user acceptance and eliminated the need for subsequent adjustments.
The CSA Report has become an indispensable part of Hapag-Lloyd’s day-to-day empty container management. All logistical challenges in the regions are regularly discussed in coordination calls with the headquarters department. “In the past, a 16-page PDF document containing the key metrics for each container type and region was distributed as a basis for discussion,” recalls Hendrik Behn. These printouts were discussed via conference call, and additional insights from separate analyses of the individual regions were added. Today, all participants in this meeting view a single dashboard via Microsoft Teams. Regional aspects can be easily displayed using appropriate filters and evaluated together. This not only saves an enormous amount of time in preparation—but also enables significantly more flexible and faster evaluations and insights.
The dashboard also highlights critical issues at a glance, such as which areas currently have too many or too few containers. By comparing these top-10 lists, the necessary shipments to the regions in need can be initiated immediately. What matters here is not only the current situation but also future developments. Forecasts for the next eight weeks provide an outlook on inventory trends and can be directly incorporated into planning when problems are identified. This approach is particularly advantageous in crisis situations, such as the case of the “Ever Given,” which ran aground in the Suez Canal in 2021. What impact will this have on the planned shipments for the coming days and weeks? What has already been taken into account? And what additional countermeasures can be initiated from where? The CSA report created global transparency, improved communication among various stakeholders, and provided a transparent, data-driven basis for decision-making for everyone. The system is very intuitive to use and poses no problem even for employees with less analytical aptitude after a brief introduction. The clearly structured data model also lays the groundwork for future expansions. For example, the transition to Qlik Sense is expected to enable additional self-service analytics capabilities.
The drive for change and innovation has always been deeply rooted at Hapag-Lloyd. Acquisitions, integrations, and technological advancements constantly bring new ideas and developments: “Together with celver, we are already active in many other areas of analysis and planning, such as container equipment and financial planning,” Hendrik Behn concludes. “As digitalization continues to advance, I am particularly looking forward to the analytical potential offered by comprehensive GPS tracking of the container fleet.”
Your contact person
