The aim of the truck appointment system TASS (Truck Appointment System Steveco) is to prevent congestion at unloading sites and the resulting scheduling problems. Truck slotting was deployed in February in Hietanen. At Mussalo’s MC4 warehouse, slot booking was introduced at the beginning of April, and the goal is to gradually expand it to piece goods trucks in all Mussalo terminals by the autumn of this year.

“In the TASS system, the haulier reserves time windows for trucks picking up and delivering cargo within their arrival and when they are served. We can shorten the time the trucks stay in the port and shorten their turnaround times. Our service will improve when we know the arrival times of the trucks because then we will have a better opportunity to optimise the resources for unloading,” says Heikki Jääskeläinen, Development Director of Steveco.

Steveco’s customer haulier is not required to purchase any application to use the slot booking system. All they have to do is to log in to the online TASS system, select the terminal, pick the appropriate time window, and book it. A message will be sent to the driver with information about the booking. Once the truck is loaded, the driver opens the application on their mobile phone and confirms that the journey has started. When the truck is on the road, the Steveco terminal can monitor how the schedule is followed.

For the haulier, slot booking means faster operations as the unloading equipment will be ready upon arrival. Unnecessary waiting times in the congested unloading area of the port are reduced. The change also means that hauliers can schedule their other service needs more efficiently when they know when the truck will be free to move on to the next destination.

Photo: Niko Arola

Truck Appointment System