Portbase integration development
Portbase is the Port Community System of the Dutch ports, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Port of Amsterdam and the Port of Rotterdam Authority. More than seven thousand organisations work through Portbase, from shipping lines and shipping agents to freight forwarders, carriers and terminals. If you only use Portbase through its web screens, you retype what is already in your own system. Appfront builds the integration between your TMS, WMS, terminal or shipping line software and Portbase's services, via the system integration or API that Portbase offers for this purpose.
What is a Portbase integration?
A Portbase integration lets your own system talk directly to the Port Community System. Portbase connects the port logistics chain through a single digital platform, with services per role. A shipping line or shipping agent uses Melding Schip to submit the notifications for a ship visit, covering waste, dangerous goods, ship's stores and crew, among other things. Carriers use Melding Container Achterland to pre-notify their visits by road, rail or inland waterway. Shippers and freight forwarders use Cargo Controller Import and Export to track the logistics and customs status of their cargo. The integration ensures that those notifications come from your system and that the status comes back.
For each service, Portbase offers a system integration alongside the web screens. For each integration you choose one protocol: sFTP, SMTP or AS2, with messages in EDIFACT, XML or CSV, or an API with JSON for real-time traffic and higher frequencies. According to Portbase, that API is not available for every service. You request the system integration from Portbase, using your software supplier's details, and Portbase sends the access keys to that supplier. Specifications, manuals and test information are available on Portbase's support site, and Portbase's interface team helps with the connection.
We build custom integrations because every company in the port has different services and different systems. The services you use, the protocol that suits them, which system is leading for which data and what should happen with a rejection or status change all determine how the integration works. We act as your software supplier towards Portbase or work with your own IT team, building to the specifications that Portbase publishes for each service.
Enter once
Notifications from your system.
Status sent back
Cargo and customs in view.
Per service
The right protocol.
How we build your Portbase integration
We start with your role in the port: which Portbase services you use, what you currently enter in the web screens, which systems you have alongside them and which status information you are missing. Then you request the system integration and we build the first integration, usually the service with the most notifications. We test with Portbase according to their specifications and then with real notifications. Other services follow once that goes well. After that we maintain the integration, including when Portbase releases an update.
Role, notifications, manual work.
Most notifications first.
More services and status.
Go-live, monitoring, and maintenance for releases.
What a Portbase integration actually does
The components below appear in almost every Portbase integration. Which ones you need depends on your role in the chain and on the services you use.
Notifications
From your own system.
Pre-registration
Road, rail and inland waterway.
Status
Cargo and customs status back.
Messages
EDIFACT, XML or JSON.
Validation
Rejections handled.
Overview
All notifications in one place.
Who we build a Portbase integration for
The integration is intended for companies that work with Portbase and have a lot of notifications or status information that currently moves by hand between the web screen and their own system. The more ship visits, containers or shipments you have, the more it delivers.
Shipping lines and agents
Melding Schip from your system.
Freight forwarders
Cargo and customs status.
Transport operators
Pre-notify without typing.
Terminals
Notifications and unloading.
Technology and integrations
This page is about integrations with Portbase. For an overview of what we build for the port sector, see our page on port software. If you want your own system for reporting ship waste, take a look at our page on a port call notification and waste disposal system; for customs there are our pages on automating customs clearance and DMS software, and for messaging in general our page on EDIFACT integrations. You can read about our approach at custom software development.
Why choose Appfront for your Portbase integration?
A ship notification that is entered first in your own system and then again in a web screen, a container that was not pre-announced because someone forgot, or a customs status that nobody sees until the lorry is at the gate: all of this costs time and sometimes a missed slot. That is what we build around: notifications from a single source, status that comes back automatically, and an integration that shows you when something went wrong.
Less retyping
Notifications from a single source.
In time
Status comes back automatically.
Visible
Errors in the log.
Security and privacy in a Portbase integration
The integration processes commercially sensitive data about cargo, customers and ship visits, and, for crew lists, personal data covered by the GDPR. It sends only what the Portbase service requires, works with the access keys that Portbase issues, and logs every notification with its time and result.
The integration runs in a European data centre, with encrypted connections. Keys and certificates are stored securely and are not visible to staff. We agree with you in advance who in your organisation may see which notifications and statuses.
Frequently asked questions about a Portbase integration
Questions that operations managers, IT departments and planners in the port ask before they get started.
A connection between your own system, such as a TMS, WMS or shipping line system, and the services of Portbase. Notifications then go from your system to Portbase and status comes back, without having to enter everything again in the web screens.
The Port Community System of the Dutch ports: a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Port of Amsterdam and the Port of Rotterdam Authority, which connects the port logistics chain through a single digital platform. More than seven thousand organisations use it.
Yes, for some of the services. For each service, Portbase offers a system integration via sFTP, SMTP or AS2 with EDIFACT, XML or CSV, and for a number of services an API with JSON. There is also a Ship Visit API. Which service has which entry point is set out in Portbase's specifications.
You apply for the service with the option for web screens and system integration and provide the details of your software supplier. Portbase sends the access keys to that supplier, and then the integration is tested. We can be that supplier, or work together with your own IT team.
These include Ship Notification with the add-ons for waste, dangerous goods and crew, Hinterland Container Notification for road, rail and inland shipping, Cargo Controller Import and Export, Cargo Notification Import and Export, and Transit Declaration. Which ones you need depends on your role.
The integration catches the rejection and puts the notification in an error list with the reason. You can see which ship visit, container or shipment it concerns and, after correcting it, have it sent again.
For companies with a lot of notifications or shipments, their own system where the data is already held, or a schedule that depends on the status in the port. If you submit few notifications, Portbase's web screens are often enough.
Portbase directly from your own system?
Tell us which Portbase services you use and which system you work with. We'll show you how an integration takes over the retyping.