The business questions that justify the tool
Three questions sit behind every conversation about service routes — and each one has a measurable revenue consequence when the answer is wrong.
- Are the routes we are running actually profitable?
- How quickly can a new route be generated when the service network changes?
- Are we missing revenue because the booking portal does not have the new service route yet?
What RNO does
Built on Solverminds' liner-business software heritage and advanced optimisation algorithms, RNO is a dynamic engine that can rapidly generate every possible service route across the network and prescribe the most optimal ones. The merit weights span five dimensions — optimal routes based on cost, connectivity, transportation time, contribution margin, and revenue opportunities.
It scales to any size of liner business. It is agile — changes to route parameters trigger new scenarios on demand. The generated routes can be pushed into the service route catalogue with little or no human intervention.
Three steps to an optimised route plan
RNO collapses what was an organisational project into a three-step workflow that the operations team can run themselves.
- Step 1 — Enter the multiple port pairs and the vessel capacity restriction
- Step 2 — Plan the routes and schedules
- Step 3 — Find the best routes on a single click
Key benefits
The value of RNO is not just speed. It is the operational consequences that follow when the route catalogue is finally trustworthy.
- Substantial manpower savings on creating and maintaining service routes
- Easier updates to the service route catalogue — and more booking opportunities as a result
- Accuracy of the available service routes at all times
- Faster route-network analysis during a service-network revamp
- Supports optimal utilisation of fleet capacity
- Increased profitability via lower operations cost, fuel cost and transportation time
Truly integrated
RNO is built to plug in. Data interchange uses shipping-industry-standard EDI messages, RESTful web service with JSON, or proprietary message formats. Integration with industry portals such as INTTRA and GT Nexus is included.
Once the route engine is connected, the customer service representative can answer a shipper's enquiry with up-to-date service information — increasing the conversion rate from quote to book, lifting vessel load factor, and adding revenue at the carrier.