Introduction

TIC4.0 will provide the metadata from EDI to create Data Value. It offers an overview of how to translate and incorporate EDI data, from any source (EDI message, TOS, or whatever) to a TIC message, register or data lake (centralized data repository).

This introduction gives an overview of the whitepaper from the point of view of the context, goal, use cases, value proposition, EDI structure, methodology and database.

Context

Currently, TIC encompasses mainly Terminal-related technical data. Operation-related data is not available to the required extent. This data is available separately in the EDIFACT format. The objective is to support the End-To-End operational process.

The review of EDI is done to ensure that the TIC4.0 Model can hold all transferred information.

Nowadays, EDIFACT is the established method to exchange information between terminals. For example, operator orders informing about the expected arrival and departure of cargo along with the associated visits & means of transport. These are used in the TOS for operational planning on the terminal e.g. berth planning, stacking or (un)loading.

Challenges

The main challenge is to obtain valuable information or create useful automated “triggers” as EDI lacks integration with TIC.

Advantage

With the integration of EDI data in TIC4.0 a more holistic view of the terminal performance can be achieved. A positive side effect is to set the EDI data in the context of the TIC4.0 which makes them easier to understand. It offers the capability to fuse data with container and vessel operators, on the one hand, and local terminal operations, maintenance, and yard optimization, on the other.

Goal

The EDIFACT data will be translated to the TIC4.0 Data standard/model via the provision of definitions, data formats, data models and examples to easily implement the standard.

Potential use cases

EDI structure

The base of the Task Force review and conversion is the Ship Message Design Group (SMDG) Standard which is published by the SMDG group, see EDIFACT MIGs – SMDG e.V. .

The conversion focuses on established messages as per the criteria of SMDG.

The following message types will be reflected in the conversion:

As a starting point, the smaller EDI message COARRI was chosen to gain experience with the structure and find a good way to review and document the results.

Structure of the EDI File:

The EDI Files follow the same structure and definition of data.

More details about this can be found in the documentation for each message type at EDIFACT MIGs – SMDG e.V. There are several tools on the internet available to aid the user in reading and understanding the EDI messages.

The following explanation is given to help understand the way in which the transfer from EDI to TIC4.0 can be made. It does not provide a complete explanation of the EDIFACT structure and logic.

EDIFACT messages are split into segment groups and segments. The segment itself holds TAGs and values.

The information in the EDI files is classified with the TAGs which identify the kind of content.

Each message has some segments to identify the general message type and give some control information.

Below is the general structure of the files with the TAGs which always have to exist in a file (bold entries):

Segments

The way to read and translate the EDIFACT files is explained with the help of some examples.

General information to the structure of the segments:

• Each Segment ends with a ‘.

• + is used as a separator between the elements

• In the case of composite elements, “:” is used as a separator.

• To read a segment we analyze from left to right the content between two “+”.

Example A:

DTM - The TAG gives the information that the segment will contain Date and Time information

132:202302221600:203

Extract from the SMDG Standard document related to this example line:

Open

The use of code lists:

References and standardised information are linked with codes and tracked in lists.

These lists can be used in different contexts, but not in all contexts are all values allowed.

In the above example, the 132 is an entry of a code list which means that the following information will be the arrival time.

In the format description of the related EDI message the number of the code list and the allowed values are listed. The first value in the example which is part of such a list is the 132 as code of the arrival date / time.

As you can find the extract below 2005 is the id of the list. 132, 133, 178 and 186 are the allowed values. 

The next example in this line is the 203. This is an entry from the code list 2379. In this case only the value 203 is allowed. 

Example B

EQD – TAG for Equipment Details

CN – Kind of Equipment and Element of List 8053 (Allowed values are: BB, BPP, CH, CN - Container, RG, SQ, TE)

 NYKU4116702 - Equipment Identifier

 45G1:102:5

 + + - missing, not mandatory information – equipment supplier code 

3 - equipment status code – element of list 8249 (allowed values are 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,14)

5 - full or empty indicator code – element of list 8169  (allowed values 4, 5, 6)

Extract from the SMDG Standard document related to this example line:

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Translation Methodology

The review of the EDI messages and translation was done by going through the EDI standard segment-wise. For each segment we considered the possible values transferred and allowed in each TAG. These are either translated in existing TIC4.0 fields or new fields were defined.

To explain the definition which was done there is always one example with concrete values translated.

The table used contains several columns to define the ‘to-be-mapped’ content and the TIC Data Mapping fields.

Explanation of the Columns in the attached EXCEL Database:

In the following, a similar example like example A above is now used to explain how the translation is done and how to read the attached EXCEL Sheet.

Example 1:

Extract from the EXCEL Sheet with the translation of this example:

DTM is the TAG for the SMDG data element C507 - Date / Time Period. This explains the following information and doesn’t require fields in the TIC4.0 wording.

In the example DTM is followed by a +, which is the separator between TAG and information transferred in this line.

The value 133 is an entry of the SMDG component element 2005 (Date or time or period function code qualifier).

We have 4 different allowed values which describe “different meanings” for the following date. This means that they have to go to different fields in the TIC 4.0 format.

The component element 2380 holds the date and time: 200211131700.

The component element 2379 holds the format description of the component element 2308: CCYYMMDDHHMM.

Example 2

This example explains the use of the lists from smdg in the TIC4.0 database related to the EDI translation

Extract from the EXCEL Sheet with the translation of this example:

NAD is the SMDG TAG for name and address.

The following information is relevant after the +, which is used as separator.

CF is an entry of the smdg data element 3035 which has a fix list of allowed values:

The definition in the TIC data model is done as follows. There are metadata defined for it. The metadata partyfunctioncode holds the number of the list. :he metadata partyfunctionname holds the list with the possible values.

example: tos|@|cargo|@|responsibleparty|metadata|output|actual|#qualifier#20|partyfunctioncode : CF

MAE:172:20

This is the smdg data element C082 which holds the party identification details.

MAE is the data value. After the “:” it is described what exactly this data value represents. As each filed in smdg this one has a number: 3039

This is translated as follows:

172 is an entry of list 1131 and describes the kind of the party.

The allowed values in the list are

• 172 Carrier

• 160 Party Identification

This is translated similar to the example before:

20 is an entry of the list 3055 and describes the code list standards from which the data values were taken.

The allowed values in the list are

• 20 BIC (Bureau International des Containeurs)

• 87 Assigned by carrier

• 166 US, National Motor Freight Classification Association

• 184 AU, ACOS (Australian Chamber of Shipping)

• SMD SMDG (Shipplanning Message Development Group)

• ZZZ Mutually defined

This is translated as follows:

DATABASE

The backend of this code is publicly available at

Open

The database will be updated and populated for all EDI messages (work in progress). This database will allow the user to translate any EDI content to TIC 4.0 straightforwardly.