The Port of Felixstowe is committed to seeking innovative ways of providing its customers with the optimum levels of efficiency and service.

As part of the drive towards improving its service to hauliers, the Port has developed the Road Haulage IDEntity System (RHIDES) and a Vehicle Booking System (VBS). Whilst RHIDES aims to secure the integrity of the supply chain, VBS will facilitate the enhanced management of lorry movements in and out of the Port each day.

Vehicle Booking System (VBS)

Although the Port offers a 24-hour service, 40% of these arrivals occurred within a daily six-hour period and previously caused major congestion issues around the Port during these times.

To enable the Port of Felixstowe to improve its service level to hauliers and control the excess demand during these times, VBS was introduced to ensure that hauliers queuing are able to be processed upon arrival and that congestion is contained within the confines of the Port itself.

By ensuring that drivers pre-book their containers for collection/delivery within certain allocated time slots, VBS provides a platform to enable a better spread of jobs throughout the working day.

Since the introduction of VBS the volume of hauliers handled between the peak times (13:00-19:00) continues to reduce and the strategic changes having to be taken by the haulage community generally has enabled this to be the case.

Hauliers can register for VBS by visiting the Port of Felixstowe website at: www.portoffelixstowe.co.uk/vbs

Customer Service Centre (CSC)

The Customer Service Centre (CSC) provides help and information to customers using Trinity Terminal. The department deals with issues associated with the day to day process of collecting and depositing containers as well as providing assistance and guidance of the VBS system. Located at the North end of the Temporary Holding Area the CSC is the point of contact for hauliers requiring help entering and leaving the port or receiving service in the park.

The department is manned between 23:00hrs Sunday and 15:00hrs Saturday every week (with exceptions to these times on bank holidays and Christmas) and may be contacted on 01394 604060. For non-urgent enquiries please send an email to: csc@fdrc.co.uk.

A pre-recorded information service for bank holiday opening times, operational and weather information is also available by calling the above number and selecting the appropriate option.

Road Haulage Identity System (RHIDES)

The Port introduced its RHIDES initiative in November 2005, in response to the requirements of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS). From 1st March 2007, it has been a mandatory requirement for drivers using the Port of Felixstowe to have a RHIDES card in order to gain access to the terminals to exchange containers. The cards do not increase the time taken to process drivers arriving at the terminals and, importantly, there is no charge to hauliers for registering their drivers for the cards.

Whilst the Port of Felixstowe already has an excellent record in combating container crime, the introduction of RHIDES cards is expected to provide a significant deterrent to container theft. In the longer term, the card could be used as a more secure method of releasing import containers to authorised drivers.

The Port decided upon the use of ‘chip' card technology for RHIDES, which stores the driver's name and some biometric data, in this case a hand-scan, as a means of identification.