The publication TIC4.0 2025.015 covers the following topics:

• FAQ: In order to facilitate the navigation and onboarding process for new and existing members alike, a set of TIC4.0 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) has been created. These shall act as guidance for both technical and administrative questions. This release covers the “General Information”, “Task Forces and Collaboration”, “Participation & Tools” and the “Data Model and Technical Characteristics”.

• Simple definitions: In what constitutes a novelty for TIC4.0, simple definitions will be created to help clarify elements present in the Data Models which lacked proper descriptions. As a result, the organisation will be able to speed up the definition process. This release will cover “tic40codeid”, “tic40codename”, “description”, “mcode”, “fmicode”.

• Yard Inventory Definitions: Important definitions on elements like “truck loading spot”, “rail loading spot” and “berth” were defined in this release.

• COARRI to TIC4.0: The COARRI elements “UNH Message Header - BGM Beginning of Message”, “Segment Group 1: RFF - Reference” and “CNT Control Total - UNT Message Trailer” are the last parts of the COARRI message that needed to be translated to achieve complete compatibility between both systems.

Frequently Asked Questions “FAQ"

These Frequently Asked Questions provide TIC4.0 members with practical guidance on how to work with the standard and access its supporting resources and the benefits of taking part in the organisation. They cover how the Task Forces work and meet, data models, semantic definitions, and documentation through the Confluence-based working space. The FAQs also outline the tools used for collaboration (Confluence, Microsoft Teams, and the ongoing evaluation of Bitbucket for version control). They also describe the available formats of the data model: JSON, FLAT, and YAML. Integration with protocols such as MQTT and others are also mentioned to explore interoperability across systems. Additionally, there are clarifications on message construction and the Data Model.

Yard Inventory Definitions

The Task Force “Yard Inventory” has started to create a concept that will enable yard status monitoring by using the TIC4.0 language and format. For this purpose, the general definitions “Position”, “Berth”, “TruckDock” and “Rail Loading Dock” have been established. Of these, “Berth” is the one with the greatest significance, since it defines a key concept for maritime transportation. In addition, “Position”, “TruckDock” and “Rail Loading Dock” are the land transport counterparts for trucks and rail, respectively.

For the digital formatting of the semantic and Dataset we need a Data Model to structure the data and a Data Schema to define the details of the content, such as the validity of the format, the type of data (Boolean, entire, real etc.), which data is mandatory or could be omitted etc.

The Dataset has been defined based upon the RDF Resource Description Framework using the subject->predicate->object schema.

Following the semantic web standard (subject: object) the model has 3 main components: header, asset description and measurement.

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SUBJECT creates the hierarchy tree structure (we have sub-subjects) that helps to identify the boundary of the value. The hierarchy is fixed by TIC4.0 for each kind of subject (CHE, TOS, Terminal) and can mix any type of subjects (e.g. machine.process = che.move). The subjects conform to an array defined by the (concept) metadata so various identical subjects but with different metadata (id or name or location or…) can be sent in the same message. (one message with several CHE's or one CHE with several spreaders).

The CONCEPT's metadata defines ‘what is’ and the CONCEPT ‘what does’. Both are flat (no hierarchy, no arrays) and as many as necessary can be used. Additionally, two concepts can be combined with ‘and’ or ‘or’ creating a new concept which includes the condition that makes both true. For e.g. ‘hoisting_and_trolleying’ that represents the action of hoisting and trolleying at the same time (both statuses must be true).

OBSERVED PROPERTIES define the ‘magnitude’ of the CONCEPT, are flat (no hierarchy) and can be used as many times as necessary with a CONCEPT.

For each OBSERVED PROPERTY, an array created by the combination of the different POINT OF MEASUREMENTs in time (actual, estimated, etc), place (input, iinput, ioutput, output), timestamps and the different Units will give an array (a list) of VALUEs. The array could be if necessary in each message. The length will depend on the relation between the data frequency and the message frequency and also the amount of different POINT OF MEASUREMENTs that need to be represented.

A detailed definition of the Data Model can be found in Data Model.

The Dataset is the content of the Data Model, a flat version without hierarchy or rules. The Dataset is used by humans, but machines need the Data Model and the Data Schema to translate it to a digital format. 

In this release, the following generic documents, definitions and other information are available:

The following definitions have been created or modified in this 2025.015 publication:

4.1 Yard Inventory