Frequently asked questions

• What does Certified Pick up (CPu) mean?
• What are the benefits of Certified Pick up?
• Why is Certified Pick up mandatory?
• Who should join Certified Pick up?
• For which goods is affiliation with Certified Pick up mandatory?
• Who are the partners in the Certified Pick up project?
• What is the difference between Certified Pick up and Secure Container Release?
• How much does Certified Pick up cost?
• Is Certified Pick up also mandatory on the platform of Zeebrugge?
• Will there be a connection between the Inbound Release Platform for PN/TS and Certified Pickup?

Certified Pick up is a neutral, central data platform that provides the supply chain with a digital, secure and optimised release and pick-up process for incoming containers. This is done by capturing and enhancing container information – sourced from various parties – on the Certified Pick up platform in order to ensure a pick up based on identity. This assigns the correct container to the correct transporter. An audit trail is provided to make the entire process auditable by the competent authorities as well.

Affiliation to Certified Pick up provides optimisation benefits for all logistics partners. 

• Transparent: Certified Pick up ensures transparency on container status, with the aim of increasing operational efficiency for each player in the chain.
• Safe: Certified Pick up offers a new way of handling. You collect a container based on identity instead of PIN codes. The platform makes it possible to track which parties were involved in handling the container.
• Efficient: Administrative processes are much simpler, employees work in a safer way and the turnaround time of import containers at the port is reduced.

Certified Pick up was conceived as a port service to create a centralised and digitised process, where efficiency, safety and transparency are paramount. Indeed, the port infrastructure is recognised as critical digital infrastructure. For this system to be complete, it is necessary for every party involved to be connected. Port of Antwerp-Bruges needs to safeguard this critical digital infrastructure and has chosen to appoint its subsidiary company NxtPort as authorised service provider to help develop this infrastructure.

All logistics partners - in Belgium or abroad - involved in the collection process of containers at the port. This includes among others: shipowners, shipping agents, terminals, shippers, freight forwarders, logistics handlers, trucking companies, barge operators, rail operators, etc. 

• Each full container and each empty container of a shipper that is brought by seagoing vessel to a terminal at the port and will then leave this terminal by barge, truck, train or a means of transport other than a seagoing vessel.
• Each full container transported by seagoing vessel to a terminal at the port and then unloaded at that terminal.

Port of Antwerp-Bruges has appointed NxtPort as service provider to build and operate the platform. 

Port of Antwerp-Bruges is the port authority of the port in Antwerp and Zeebrugge, the second largest port in Europe and the 13th largest container port in the world.

NxtPort is a subsidiary of Port of Antwerp-Bruges. The company is committed to making data sharing more transparent and simple between the various players in the logistics chain. Besides Certified Pick up, it also developed the ETA Terminal tool. This allows you to consult the arrival times of ships at the terminals and cargo opening times.

Secure Container Release (SCR) is an application developed by T-mining to eliminate the use of PIN codes when picking up a container.

Certified Pick up (CPu) is an application developed by NxtPort for the same purpose.

You can elect to release containers via SCR or CPu, but the final pick up entitlement and audit trail are generated by Certified Pick up. So the Secure Container Release application will always have to be linked to Certified Pick up. 

There are two methods to access the Certified Pick up (CPu) application; via API integration or via web interface. For both a yearly subscription fee is required. 

If you want to integrate CPu in your software systems using the API, a fixed yearly fee of €2.500,00 will be charged. This fee will grant access to all NxtPort API’s and access to the CPu web interface.

When you only want to use the web interface of CPu, a reduced fee will be invoiced. The exact amount will depend on your role in the release process. Ship Agents, forwarders, Release Parties and Terminals will pay a yearly subscription fee of €250,00. This is done via normal invoicing procedures. In case of a transport operators, the fee depends on the yearly number of containers you’ll be handling through CPu. These payments will be handled through our prepay module (see below).

Next to the yearly subscription fee, an additional contribution per container will be charged. This fee will be divided over Terminal, Ship agent and “First Release Party”, i.e. the party that received the Release Right directly from the Ship Agent.

You can find a clear overview of the rates on our documentation page.

At the moment, that is not the case. There are no concrete plans yet.

Yes, a connection between Certified Pick up and the Inbound Release Platform will be provided from the moment it will go live in March 2024.

• How long does a release remain valid?
• Do you receive a warning if a release is about to expire?
• Can you see to whom the container has been released at a certain time?

• I am consigned on the Bill of Lading, do I need to register for the Certified Pick up application?
• I am not the consignee on the Bill of Lading, can I receive the release right through Certified Pick up? Or is the release right always sent to the consignee?
• Will a TAR-code remain mandatory to pick up a container?
• What about the procedures for 'containers for drop' (empty containers that have to be brought to a depot)?

Do you already have a C-point and Cinvio account? Use the following link to connect both accounts: http://cpu.nxtport.com/blocked.

Don't have any of the above accounts yet? Complete the steps listed on the page for transport operators.

Yes, a red light always indicates a value. The meaning of these values can be found in this overview table.

In that case, the First Release Party or Transport Operator is not yet affiliated with Certified Pick up. Please contact this party to request registration. More information about the registration process can be found on the pages for Release Parties and Transport Operators. 

This depends on the status of the lights. In the case of a red light, contact the party involved.

Yes, terminals must provide back up scenarios. Certified Pick up provides back up information for this purpose.

It is the shipping agent who sets the expiry date. If a container is not given an expiry date, the release remains valid for 60 days after the commercial release.

No, Certified Pick up does not send a warning if a release right is about to expire.

No, that is not possible. This is confidential information.

The customs light appears in the release right and provides additional transparency using different statuses.

GREEN:
The container has been cleared. A complete follow-up declaration has been submitted. The container may leave the terminal. 

ORANGE:
With an orange light, different statuses are possible:  
You can collect the container but here there is a follow-up action pending

• The container must present itself for scanning
• The container falls under FASFC regulation
• The container arrives at the terminal via port equalization
• The container arrives at the terminal and is destined for transshipment

RED:
If the container is under documentary control, or has been partially or not cleared, the light is given a red status. You cannot then collect the container.

At a later stage, terminals will only release containers that are customs cleared to leave the terminal. That is, the customs light is on green or orange.

Yes, when the container is selected for scanning, the forwarder will still receive a seperate email from customs.

You can indeed clear container by container (or prepare documents for it). You will then have a partioal debit from the Bill of Lading. The green light for customs only appears when the entire Bill of Lading has been written off. The logic of partial depreciation is not provided for in the customs systems (CCRM).

Customs informs Certified Pick up when the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) must approve a container. The customs light will then be set to orange with statys 'FASFC'. The container can leave the terminal under this light if the other lights are also green.

If under the current system you receive a PIN code from the carrier, or handle the PIN code at any point (you receive it from another company), then you indeed have to register. The main principle of the entry process does not change, the only thing that changes is how you get the right to collect the container. Instead of a document with an actual PIN code, you will receive a digital release right through the Certified Pick up platform.

If you work with a freight forwarder and they handle the entire import process for you, you do not need to register unless the shipping agent requires otherwise. If the shipping agent sends the PIN code to your company first, and you in turn send it to your freight forwarder, you must be registered.

If you handle the import process yourself, and directly appoint the transport company that picks up the container, you need to register. The shipping agent sends the release right to your company and you then transfer it to the transport company.

If you wish to receive the release right on behalf of the consignee, the consignee will have to inform the shipping agent to whom the cargo can be released. The principle of the import process does not change, the only thing that changes is how you receive the right to collect the container. Instead of a document with an actual PIN code, you will receive a digital release right through the Certified Pick up platform.

Yes, a TAR code still applies.

The procedure for containers for drop remains unchanged.

Certified Pick up is built with AKS technology on a Microsoft Azure stack. The application is subjected to regular penetration testing, security audits and constant security monitoring. NxtPort is also ISO 27001 compliant, which means it has met strict information security requirements.

Neither NxtPort nor Port of Antwerp-Bruges will use these data for purposes other than Certified Pick up. They will not commercialise this data.

The Port Authority has the right to use the data in a bundled manner. This involves data used or generated in the context of Certified Pick up or related applications and services. This is because the Port Authority has a public duty and can impose reporting obligations on the recognised service provider in that context. 

While there are some mechanisms built into Certified Pick up for identity verification, good business practice requires a shipping company to validate identity (and the Identifier used for identification) with the First Release Party, as Certified Pick up/NxtPort has no operational relationship with the First Release Party.