Portbase
Also known as: Port Community System
Portbase is the port community system of the Dutch seaports. Terminals, shipping lines, freight forwarders and Customs exchange cargo data through it. For containers via Rotterdam or Amsterdam a connection is in practice indispensable.
What is Portbase and what is it not?
Portbase is the Dutch port community system. It is not a customs system. DMS and DVA talk to Customs, Portbase talks to the port: terminals, shipping lines, freight forwarders, barge and rail operators, and through notifications also to Customs. On the basis of the B/L number and the container number you get back which vessel carries the container, at which terminal, what the vessel status is, what the container status is, whether an inspection is running, and whether a follow-up document has been created. Without Portbase you do not see that chain, and a truck in Rotterdam or Amsterdam may in practice not enter or leave the terminal. The notification in Portbase is mandatory before the gate opens, both inbound and outbound. Treat Portbase therefore as a third authority next to Customs and inspection, with its own notifications and its own refusals. A green IMA without a green gate is a silent container in Rotterdam.
Which notifications must you make in Portbase?
For a container that must leave the terminal, a valid follow-up document is required. For transit that is the MRN of the T1, which you link in Portbase to the container number. For import that is the MRN of the IMA. Without that link the terminal refuses exit, even if the declaration in DMS or DVA was accepted long ago. There is also the tracking itself. You register the B/L, after which Portbase returns status updates: discharge (unloaded at the terminal), inspection, gate-out. Those events drive the operational planning: T1 on arrival of the vessel, unloading permission when the container leaves the terminal, IMA after that. Cargo Controller is the service with which you track a B/L. One B/L often covers several containers. A status change on the B/L then hits all containers under that number, not one file. Report the MRN as soon as it exists, not when the driver is on the way. The terminal does not process the link at the second of the gate. A late notification is a refused truck and an extra trip.
How does Portbase relate to MyTerminal?
Portbase is the port-wide layer. MyTerminal is the track and trace per terminal, with data the terminal itself supplies. That data is in practice more current, because terminals often pass their status to Portbase later. Anyone who only has Portbase sees the vessel and the terminal, but sometimes misses the moment the container gets status Departed. In some flows that moment is the trigger for DVA arrival. Without MyTerminal that trigger comes too late or not at all. The two do not replace each other. Portbase is mandatory for the gate notification and the Customs-related document link. MyTerminal is a paid extra for finer container status. In many Rotterdam chains they sit side by side. Take both if the flow asks for it. Portbase alone is the gate. MyTerminal alone is visibility without gate rights. In Rotterdam you always need the first, the second if the chain is built to the hour.
What does Portbase cost and who takes it out?
Portbase is a paid subscription. The Customs connections to DMS, DVA and CLIENT PD are free of charge. The port layer is not. The freight forwarder or the shipper takes out the subscription, not Customs. Without a subscription and keys there is no live tracking and no gate notification. Dummy data helps when building a connection, not when driving a container out. The cost structure differs per service. Cargo Controller is the tracking. There are separate services for import and export notifications to the terminal. Which you need follows from the flow: only visibility on arrival, or also the mandatory prenotification before the truck may drive. Arrange the subscription before the first container arrives. A connection without keys is a screen with test data. The terminal does not let the truck through on a test notification. Without a subscription the container is visible in no live screen.
What goes wrong with Portbase in the chain?
The classic failure is an MRN that exists in DMS or DVA but has not been reported in Portbase. The declaration is accepted, the container is stuck at the terminal, and nobody sees where it stops until the driver is refused at the gate. A second failure is an incomplete registration: B/L is right, container number is missing or wrong, or the trailer number was missed at OCR intake. A later correction in the file does not re-register itself with Portbase. A third is expiry of the tracking. Subscriptions and B/L registrations run out. A consignment that is weeks underway then goes silent in the system while the vessel simply sails. Resync on the B/L is then the first action, not a new declaration. Correct B/L and container number in the file and register again after that. A silent feed is almost never a Portbase outage. It is a registration that was incomplete at intake and was never repeated.
How do you use Portbase next to the customs declaration?
Treat Portbase as the port key, not as the customs file. The MRN comes from DMS or DVA. Portbase gets that number to inform the terminal. The inspection code comes from CLIENT PD. Portbase at most sees that an inspection is running, not the NVWA result. The order is therefore fixed: first the declaration, then the notification in Portbase, then the gate. Anyone who reverses the order stands with a truck at a terminal that does not know the document. Keep B/L, container number and MRN in one file. Portbase matches on B/L and container, Customs matches on MRN. If those three drift apart, the gate fails even if each system is green on its own. A dashboard with only customs status is not enough in the port. Put gate notification, discharge and gate-out next to the MRN. The driver's question is not whether the IMA was accepted. The question is whether the gate opens.