P&O Ferrymasters
Driving down haulage costs
Den Bosch, Netherlands, September 13, 2011
P&O Ferrymasters, one of Europe’s leading providers of tailor-made transportation and logistics
services, have achieved a significant reduction in empty mileage, cut haulage costs and simplified
pan-European freight forwarding operations. The Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS)
software solution from Quintiq was fully cost-justified within the first half year of operational use.
In July 2010, P&O Ferrymasters announced their decision to introduce Quintiq’s software to handle
all aspects of the company’s planning. Quintiq is working with logistics systems integrator The Logic
Factory with the implementation, and Phase One went live in January 2011. This first phase focused
on the company’s freight forwarding division, a major business unit that represents around 60% of
the company’s transport operations. The division has twenty-seven offices in thirteen countries,
working with up to 5,000 hauliers and managing around 6,250 orders a week. This is a complex
operation that relies heavily on the knowledge of local dispatchers.
A single view across 13 countries
The new solution has introduced centralised planning, where a single view of operations is helping
P&O Ferrymasters to identify opportunities to achieve return loads between countries. This initiative
alone fully cost-justifies the solution. Additionally, the company is able to extend the concept to
‘triangulate’ the movement of freight across more than two countries, taking into account
compatibility of loads and routes with different hauliers and different trailers or units. The combined
capabilities of Fr8 Manager, P&O Ferrymasters’ Transport Management System, and Quintiq’s
Advanced Planning & Scheduling capability gives P&O Ferrymasters a very tight grip across the
business to enhance their competitiveness and operational agility.
Before the Quintiq solution was introduced, P&O Ferrymasters used common practice within the
industry leaving local dispatchers to manage their own operations. Not having a global view meant
that return trip and combined load opportunities were missed. Today, central planning prepares a
recommended pairing and provides a shortlist of suitable hauliers, leaving local planners to
negotiate best rates. Dispatchers are not forced to follow recommendations but have to justify any
deviation. All the benefits of a ‘black box’ solution combined with local knowledge. In a fiercely
competitive industry, the new system gives P&O Ferrymasters a significant advantage in relation to
its competitors.
It was originally envisaged that up to five people would be required in the new central planning
team. In practice it is taking just two persons.
In the competitive logistics industry, P&O Ferrymasters differentiates itself by offering grade A
customer service, including tailoring logistics solutions to its customers’ specific operational
processes. The new Quintiq planning solution helped P&O Ferrymasters surpass their customer
service goals by decreasing transport costs, improving communication between P&O Ferrymasters
and its customers and reducing P&O Ferrymasters carbon footprint with efficient transportation
resource utilization.
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The Logic Factory | Bruistensingel 224 | 5232 AD | Den Bosch | The Netherlands
 +31 (0)73 640 8640 |  info@thelogicfactory.com |  www.thelogicfactory.com
P&O Ferrymasters
Driving down haulage costs
Bas Belder, Managing Director of P&O Ferrymasters sums up: “This has been a model IT project.
Quick to implement the Quintiq system provides real planning transparency and, most importantly,
quick returns. Having seen the operational, the business and the financial benefits of phase one
makes it so much easier for us to extend the system right across the enterprise into our Asset
Division.”
Benefits to extend to Intermodal and Trailer activity
Implementation of the next phase of Advanced Planning is well under way, with P&O Ferrymasters’
Intermodal and Trailer activities due to be operational by early autumn, on time and on budget.
In this phase, the Quintiq solution will be extended to support planners find the most cost effective
routes and handle the complexities of optimising movement by road, rail and ferry. In the Asset
Division, the system will be used to optimize utilization of P&O Ferrymasters’ own road trailers,
containers and coil carriers. The aim is to cut costs and improve efficiencies even further. Having a
single planning system across all divisions will also help P&O Ferrymasters to identify the best scenario
for each job, own equipment versus freight forwarding.
About P&O Ferrymasters
Through innovation, quality and flexibility, P&O Ferrymasters leads the market in the design,
implementation and provision of integrated asset and non asset based road and intermodal Freight
Management solutions for European industries.
The organisation consists of 600 people, including many multilingual personnel, based at 27
strategic locations, spanning 13 countries across Europe. Our experienced staff offer totally
integrated, high quality supply chain solutions tailored to the individual market sectors of our
customers.
P&O Ferrymasters, part of P&O Ferries, is wholly owned by Dubai World. For more information:
http://www.poferrymasters.com/
About Quintiq
Quintiq provides advanced planning, scheduling and supply chain optimization solutions. The fastgrowing company, established in 1997, offers software for planning and optimizing complex
business processes throughout the enterprise. The company's headquarters is located in the
Netherlands and it has subsidiaries in Australia, China, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, UK, and the USA.
For more information: www.quintiq.com
About The Logic Factory
The Logic Factory specializes in Developing Advanced Software Solutions for customers in various
industries such as Logistics, Shipping, Aviation, Metals and Manufacturing. One of our strong beliefs is
that the best solutions can only be provided by the best people. Therefore we guarantee to have
well trained, exceptionally talented and highly experienced professionals available to provide
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The Logic Factory | Bruistensingel 224 | 5232 AD | Den Bosch | The Netherlands
 +31 (0)73 640 8640 |  info@thelogicfactory.com |  www.thelogicfactory.com
P&O Ferrymasters
Driving down haulage costs
customers the complex software solutions that gives them a truly competitive advantage. The Logic
Factory is your partner for planning, optimization and other smart software solutions. For more
information: www.thelogicfactory.com
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The Logic Factory | Bruistensingel 224 | 5232 AD | Den Bosch | The Netherlands
 +31 (0)73 640 8640 |  info@thelogicfactory.com |  www.thelogicfactory.com