Definition: A track and reward system here is defined as a monetary benefit offered or a system where the cumulative reward points will increase volume.

• Assess the current port operator provider's contract terms, performance indicators (including downtime, if being tracked), cost breakdown, pricing structure, procedures, communication plan with supplier.

• Analyze the measures required to calculate the emissions and calculate the emissions caused by idle time. For this purpose, you can use the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator provided in the reference.
For the calculator, you would require either of the below information:
a) Energy Data in gallons of gasoline, kilowatt-hours of electricity, MCF of natural gas, therms of natural gas, or passenger vehicles.
b) Emissions Data in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, carbon equivalent, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbon gases, perfluorocarbon gases, or sulphur hexafluoride gases.

Business:
Reduce the spending on costs related to transportation, improve the relationship with the supplier, and create healthy competition between potential operators.

Sustainability:
Reduce the emissions from downtime caused due to idle time (from logistical inefficiencies and contract loopholes), hence reduce the idle time and maximize the use of these fuels could directly lead to improved population health.

Use the analyzed data to weigh the benefit of implementing the reward incentives for reducing the idle time.

• Engage with suppliers in the discussion about their logistics plan for your company and the date of execution.

• Identify whether there are any synergistic opportunities (ex: change procedure to book a drop off appointment 4 hours in advance, and if there is a rush order then call the drop off location immediately)

• Work with the supplier and your teams (procurement and storage) to discuss current shipment lead times and bottlenecks.

• Establish standards and expectations for contingency scenarios (ex: rushed orders need to call drop off point ASAP) and regular operations (ex: need to shipment drop off appointment two days in advance) - effective only with alignment with the suppliers.

• Ensure to accommodate idle times (due to deviance from standards and expectations - ex: early by two hours) to not be charged into the contract.

• Develop and provide incentives for the achievement of established ideal turnaround time and efficiency for different modes of transport to encourage healthy competition.

• Prioritize the selection of transporters who strive for carbon emission reduction in their service.

• Leverage your revised processes which could potentially increase efficiency in negotiations.

• Perform annual or half-yearly reviews by gathering the previous year's GHG reports base on the idle time reports. This will track and measure the variations in the current year post-implementation of the track and reward system to reduce idle time.

• If available, request the supplier for visibility into their vessel CSI (Clean Shipping Index) Class scores - to identify the vehicle's environmental performance.

http://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator

http://www.cleanshippingindex.com/methodology

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