Means of transport selection

Freight enables transport planning for individual means of transport. This functionality supports transport planning for organizations that run their own fleet, but it can also plan for means of transport that are not self-owned.

When load building is carried out for a range of freight orders, available means of transport are scheduled for the load created from the selected freight orders. If no means of transport have been defined, loads are created without allocating specific means of transport. If insufficient means of transport are available , the available means of transport are scheduled for the first loads created for the freight orders, and no means of transport are scheduled for the following loads. In such cases, Freight does not display a warning that no means of transport will be assigned.

Means of transport are first assigned to loads with the longest trip time (from start date to end date). If loads have identical trip times, the load with the earliest start date is taken. This helps you avoid multiple means of transport being assigned to a large number of short trips. If several means of transport were to be assigned to numerous short trips, no available means of transport might be left for the longer trips.

After you carry out load building, you can manually change or assign means of transport to loads.

Actual load plans

When a load plan is made Actual, LN checks if the means of transport in the load plan are still available. A means of transport can become unavailable because the means of transport was allocated to another load plan that was made Actual earlier, or the calendar might have changed (different availability hours).

If the means of transport is no longer available, an error message appears. In such cases, you must select another available means of transport. If no available means of transport is left, you can carry out planning without means of transport. In that case, you must remove the means of transport from the loads.

Planned loads

If you manually change the means of transport on a planned load, the availability of the means of transport is checked. If the changed means of transport is not available, a warning to that effect is displayed.

Expired loads

If a load plan is set to Expired, the means of transport allocated to the loads of this plan become available again for other plans, provided that the availability criteria are met.

Note

Load building works in a different way for means of transport entered manually in the Means of Transport field in the Freight Order Lines (fmfoc2101m000) session.

Means of Transport availability criteria

To be scheduled for a load, a means of transport must be available. The availability of a means of transport is displayed on the means of transport calendar. This calendar appears in the Means of Transport Calendar (fmlbd0560m000) session. The means of transport calendar shows data from the actual calendar used for the means of transport and the unavailability resulting from the means of transport being scheduled for particular loads.

The availability or unavailability of a means of transport is determined by the following criteria:

  • A means of transport must be available according to the actual calendar selected for the means of transport. If no actual calendar is defined for the means of transport, the calendar of the business partner of the carrier associated with the means of transport, or the company calendar can be selected for the means of transport.
  • Means of transport are first assigned to loads with the longest trip time (from start date to end date). If loads have identical trip times, the load with the earliest start date is taken. This helps you avoid multiple means of transport being assigned to a large number of short trips. If several means of transport were to be assigned to numerous short trips, no available means of transport may be left for the longer trips.
  • The means of transport's carrier and transport means group or transport means combination must be the same as those selected for the load.
  • A means of transport is not available if it already exists on a load in the same load plan during the same time period.
  • A means of transport is available for more than one load in a load plan if the loads do not overlap.
  • If a means of transport exists in an Actual load plan during a specific period, the means of transport is not available for any other load plans during the same period.
  • A means of transport is available for a load plan if the Allow Means of Transport in Multiple Plans check box is selected for this load plan , and the means of transport already exists in another plan that is not yet made Actual during the same time period (so if the means of transport exists for Planned loads in other plans, the means of transport is available). If a means of transport can be planned in multiple plans, the means of transport that are used least in the existing plans are selected first. This option enables the user to avoid conflicts that arise when the same means of transport are assigned to multiple plans that will all be made Actual. Only one load plan can be made Actual. For the other load plans, you must select another means of transport.
  • A means of transport is not available for a load plan if the Allow Means of Transport in Multiple Plans check box is not selected for this load plan, and the means of transport already exists in another load plan that is not yet made Actual during the same time period. Note that, if you generate a large number of alternative load plans, from which you will use and make Actual only one, you can run out of available means of transport.
  • A means of transport is only available if it can travel from a previous load's unloading address to a following load's loading address in time. This applies to all loads in the same load plan and for all Actual loads in any other load plan to which the means of transport is assigned.

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