Haulier's Organization

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Container transportation is currently operated by large companies with investment capitals of not less than $10 million. Most companies invest $5 to $20 million more annually on equipment replacement, maintenance and other additions.

Because of this, container haulage companies have to be financially strong and they are usually backed by bigger companies and even public funds. Apart from investment on haulage equipment, maintenance, the container haulage companies also have to invest on depots to part their equipment, repair workshops, staging areas and operations and administrative offices.

Operations

The haulage of containers begins with the request of transport from the cargo owners or their agents to the container haulage operator. The requirements for requests for transport are as follows:
  • Container/goods have been released by customs which mean they have been submitted for customs duty evaluation and have been cleared.
  • The shipping agent on behalf of their principals has also released the delivery order (DO) which is usually done after the freight has been duly paid.
  • The agent concerned prepares a delivery note and submits that with the relevant payment to the haulage company of their choice. This process is being carried out electronically.
  • Usually agents on behalf of their principals indicate the preferred delivery date and time of the containers
  • Upon receipt of the request for transport, the haulage operators plans the delivery date and time. This can be anywhere between 2 hours to several days depending on the requirements of the cargo owners as well as the availability of equipment and capacity of the hauliers themselves.
  • The haulier then submits a request to container terminal operators (Klang Container Terminal - Port Klang; Penang Port Sdn Bhd - Penang; Johor Port Container Terminal - Pasir Gudang; Port of Tanjong Pelepas - Johor). Containers are loaded onto trailers within the Port's container interchange areas. The loaded containers are then hauled to the designated address.
Upon arrival the procedures are normally as follows:
  • Drivers report to the security at the gate.
  • Containers are parked at places designated by the owners.
  • Owners or his agent will check the container seal to determine it is still intact (for imports) or check the conditions of the container in term in terms of cleanliness and other requirements (if for export stuffing).
  • The delivery note or consignment note is signed by the owners.
  • The driver may haul back and ready container if available in the same premises.
  • If delivery is at night, it is expected that the security personnel should undertake the receipt of containers and sign the documents related to such receipts.
  • Under normal circumstances, the receiver of the goods is expected to unstuff or stuff (or unload or load) the goods from the containers within two hours. He will then inform the haulage company that the containers are ready for collection.
  • The haulage company will then assign a prime mover to haul the trailer with the ready container on it. This may be done in several ways - if there is a container to be delivered to the same premises, the same prime mover may collect the ready container after discharging the earlier one. If there is no container to be send to the same premises, the prime mover delivering to the nearest site to the premises may be assigned to collect the ready container. If there is no prime mover delivering containers to the vicinity, then a prime mover delivering from another area may be assigned to collect the ready container.
Finally, a prime mover only will be dispatched to collect the ready container at the haulage company's cost.

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