Blume Pickup and Delivery Appointment Scheduling will be deployed at select Norfolk Southern facilities to support international container pick-up and drop-off
Blume Global, a multimodal supply chain orchestration platform that unites end-to-end visibility, supplier management and logistics execution, has introduced Blume Pickup and Delivery Appointment Scheduling. The solution will help enable truckers to make appointments to drop-off and pick-up international containers at select Norfolk Southern facilities.
At a grounded intermodal terminal container pick-up and drop-off is on a first-come, first-serve basis, and with no match between crane capacity and pick up times, drayage carriers can experience prolonged wait times. Blume Pickup and Delivery Appointment Scheduling will match the capacity of the crane to incoming traffic and allow motor carriers to make an appointment to pick up their selected container, improving the drayage carrier experience and flow of shipments through a facility. The solution will initially be deployed at Norfolk Southern’s Rossville, TN and Austell, GA facilities for international container pick-ups.
Blume Pickup and Delivery Appointment Scheduling will allow location owners and operators to configure appointment windows, define constraints based on multiple parameters, manage users and communicate with their user base. It will also enable customers to add their containers, track when they are ready for appointment and make appointments for pick-up, drop-off, and dual missions.
“The supply chain ecosystem needs more dynamic solutions to expedite the movement of containers, and Blume Pickup and Delivery Appointment Scheduling is a step in the right direction, providing unprecedented value for railyards and players across the supply chain,” said Pervinder Johar, CEO of Blume Global. “We are excited to work with Norfolk Southern and provide drayage carriers with a solution that will help mitigate the congestion plaguing container terminals and improve the experience for motor carriers overall.”
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Shawn Tureman, Vice President, Intermodal and Automotive for Norfolk Southern said, “Norfolk Southern is focused on developing the Intermodal Terminal of the Future, which will improve ease of use for customers and drayage partners alike. The Pickup and Delivery Appointment Scheduling solution is one component of the technology we are introducing to help make our terminal operations more efficient.”
Blume Global is devoted to improving efficiency throughout the supply chain. This is an extension of a similar solution Blume has implemented for the Fenix Marine Terminal customers in the Port of Los Angeles, where they can precisely tailor the delivery of their cargo through an advanced appointment scheduling process—saving time and money. Additionally, in January, Blume began publishing interline schedules for Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern and CSX on its cloud-native platform, allowing companies that leverage railroad intermodal services to better coordinate cross-country rail freight deliveries.