MyTerminal
Also known as: My Terminal
MyTerminal is the track and trace per Dutch terminal. Container status is more current than in Portbase, because the terminal supplies its own data. It is a paid licence, not a customs system.
What does MyTerminal supply that Portbase does not?
MyTerminal is the container status straight from the terminal. Portbase is the port-wide layer that passes on that same data later, aggregated. In practice MyTerminal leads: status Departed, the current quay, the vessel data, the moment the container is physically off the stack. That difference is operational, not legal. The mandatory gate notification runs through Portbase. MyTerminal adds the moment at which you may take the next customs step. In some flows container status Departed is the trigger for DVA arrival, the unloading permission. Without MyTerminal you only see that trigger once Portbase has the gate-out in. That can be minutes to hours later. In a chain built to the hour, that is the difference between a T1 that closes on time and a T1 that stays open until someone pushes it by hand. Take the licence per terminal you actually run, not port-wide out of habit. The value sits in the minutes between the physical move and the message in Portbase. Anyone who does not need those minutes does not need the licence.
For which terminals do you use MyTerminal?
MyTerminal covers the large Dutch terminals that offer their own track and trace, mainly in Rotterdam. Each terminal has its own feed. A licence for one stack is not a licence for the other. Terminals without that API fall back on Portbase, or on a separate source. Hutchison Ports Delta II is an example: vessel planning does not come in there as standard via MyTerminal. The choice is therefore per terminal, not per consignment. Anyone who works Rotterdam-wide keeps a mix: MyTerminal where the licence runs, Portbase everywhere, and a remainder that comes in by hand or via another feed. Document per terminal which feed is leading. Otherwise the declarant looks in the wrong screen when a status is silent. MyTerminal, Portbase or a scraper: one source per stack, recorded, not chosen again per consignment.
How does MyTerminal connect to DVA and DMS?
MyTerminal itself files nothing with Customs. It supplies the moment. When the container is Departed, in certain flows the DVA arrival may go out, then the IMA or the STO. That order is not a Customs rule, it is the logistics reality. You do not ask for unloading permission for a container that is still in the stack. You do not file an IMA for a consignment that has not yet left the terminal if the procedure uses that moment as the start. A declaration that is too early yields a rejection or a T1 that does not match the physical place. A trigger that is too late leaves the T1 open. MyTerminal is the clock, DVA and DMS are the documents. Build the chain on that moment, not on a clock in the mailbox. A manual DVA arrival because MyTerminal is silent is the same step, only later and with a greater chance that the MRN and the container no longer match.
What does MyTerminal cost and who holds the licence?
MyTerminal is a commercial licence, taken out by the freight forwarder or the shipper, not by Customs and not by the declaration platform. Without a licence there is no live container status from that terminal. The Customs connections to DMS, DVA and CLIENT PD are free of charge. Portbase and MyTerminal are not. In the cost structure of a Dutch container flow they belong to the port layer, next to the haulage rate and the terminal handling. Anyone without the licence works on Portbase plus the phone. That can work at low volume. On daily stacks in Rotterdam the delay of Portbase is exactly why the licence is there. Put the licence in the name of the party that plans the trucks. A declaration platform can read the feed, the subscription itself runs via the terminal operator. Without that contract the screen stays empty, even if DMS and DVA return green messages.
What goes wrong when MyTerminal and Portbase drift apart?
The classic gap is a container that is already Departed in MyTerminal and still Present in Portbase. The operational chain fires the DVA arrival, the terminal gate in Portbase does not yet know the document, or the other way around. A second gap is a wrong container number. MyTerminal matches on the terminal reference, Portbase on B/L plus container. One typing error and you follow another box, while the real container stands still. A third is the assumption that MyTerminal takes over the gate notification. It does not. The truck needs Portbase. MyTerminal says where the box is, Portbase says whether it may leave. When in doubt, resync is the first action, then the gate notification in Portbase. A second DVA arrival does not fix a status conflict. First the container, then the document. Terminal status is the clock of the chain, not an extra screen on the side. Without that clock DVA fires too early or too late.
How do you put MyTerminal in the same monitor as the declaration?
Put the container status next to the MRN, not in a separate terminal screen. The question is not whether the box has been unloaded, the question is whether the next customs step may go. Those two belong in one file. Let Portbase and MyTerminal feed the same consignment status: Expected, Present, Scan, Departed. Departed comes from MyTerminal or from Portbase gate-out. That status is the link to DVA arrival, not an informative label. Treat a resync as the first action when in doubt, not a new declaration. If vessel, B/L or container is missing from the feed, a second IMA solves nothing. First the status, then the document. A terminal screen in another tab is how Departed is missed. The status should be a trigger, with a visible next step. Otherwise the T1 stays open until someone happens to look.