Routescanner is an independent platform that lets you find and compare routes for worldwide container shipping. As such, we are a decision support platform, not a digital freight forwarder. Routescanner helps shippers and freight forwarders in making informed decisions by showing the best routes in an independent, unbiased and reliable way. The Routescanner platform is based around three foundations. 

Schedule data

To create a route, we need to know timetables of rail operators, inland vessel departure times and deep-sea and short-sea shipping schedules. We get the schedules directly from the source, i.e. the operators. It takes a lot of effort to ensure as many operators as possible participate so that the system is as complete as possible, but that is what produces the best results. It also allows us to keep a grip on the data. We continuously validate and verify the data to make sure it’s correct before entering our system.

 Any operator can participate. We have developed different applications so that organizations of all sizes can share their schedules. It can be fully automated using an integration with the company’s own planning software or with our schedule builder, which makes entering and modifying schedules by hand both quick and easy. 

Schedule builder entry on the left, the resulting schedule found as a result on the platform on the right.

Routing engine

We load the operators’ schedules into our routing engine where we combine them with geographical data. We apply all kinds of rules, principles and conditions so that in the end the best routes can be calculated and displayed.  By staying in touch with the market, we continuously strive for our routing engine to match requirements. We are continually making adjustments to ensure the routes presented are becoming better and more complete. We keep adding new features too. For example, we include average carbon emissions, and we show when route information was last updated.

Front-end application

Finally, you need a front-end application so you can use the routing engine: the website. This is the ‘shell’ around the routing engine that allows the user to search for and compare routes. We continuously strive to improve the system to achieve optimum user-friendliness and user experience 

By Kevin Kruijthoff