Grain harvest season often means long hours of waiting in queues at port terminals. From now on, farmers who want to deliver grain to the terminals at the seaports of Klaipėda and Riga and to the biodiesel producer Mestilla have the opportunity to register in advance and choose a time that suits them. It is estimated that AB Linas Agro, the company that introduced this innovation, has saved its customers more than 4,000 working hours during the peak harvest season alone.
According to Arūnas Strazdas, Director of Logistics and Infrastructure at Linas Agro, queues during the grain purchasing season in previous years formed at virtually all port terminals. Statistics show that farmers delivering grain during the season can wait in line at the port for about 4-5 hours, and about 10,000 vehicles are accepted at ports during the harvest season alone.
“Our goal was to cut the waiting time at the port terminal in half, and ideally, to get rid of the wait altogether. The solution is pretty simple – the customer or their hired carrier registers in advance with Linas Agro’s self-service system when they’ll be arriving at the port. If they arrive on time, we accept them without queuing and they no longer have to wait in the general transport queue,” explains A. Strazdas.
This year, this solution was presented to the Klaipėda sea freight company BEGA and KS Terminale in Riga.
“We see that two-thirds of the carriers delivering grain to the port arrive on time, and the service time for these vehicles at the port has been reduced by more than half, with the average time from arrival at the site to departure from the territory falling to less than two hours,” says the Director of Logistics and Infrastructure at Linas Agro.
According to him, during the peak harvest season alone, this solution saved more than 4,000 transport and employee working hours.
“BEGA has been consistently investing in and developing its road transport reception infrastructure for several years. We have set up a special dedicated parking lot for trucks delivering grain to the port and installed an electronic transport registration system that allows us to regulate traffic flows and avoid congestion on city streets, even during peak periods. We are delighted that our long-standing partners Linas Agro recognized the value of this and, with additional investment, we were able to integrate our systems in such a way that all parties involved in the process could reap the benefits,” says Laimonas Rimkus, CEO of BEGA.
Follow information in real time
Farmers can fill in the necessary information in advance on the Linas Agro self-service portal to make the delivery process as simple and fast as possible. They can choose one of five delivery locations: Klaipėda Sea Cargo Company BEGA, Vakarų laivų gamykla (VLG) company Vakarų krova, biodiesel producer Mestilla, and Riga port terminals Strek terminal and KS Terminal.
In addition, farmers who have registered in advance can see real-time information about the weight of the grain received, the status of the shipment, and grain quality data in the self-service system.
“We believe that this innovation will allow farmers to better plan their processes and save valuable time. If we see that this practice proves successful this season, we will introduce advance registration at our large elevators in the future,” says A. Strazdas.
