Reflows is building a scheduling platform that treats the port call and its onward transport as one problem: vessels arrive Just-In-Time instead of rushing and waiting, and the berth window stays synchronized with the trains, barges and trucks that carry containers inland — cutting fuel and CO₂ across the entire chain.
Container shipping still runs on schedules fixed weeks in advance. Ships burn fuel racing across oceans to stay on plan, then sit at anchor for hours or days because the berth isn't ready. Everything burned to arrive early is wasted — cost and emissions alike.
The waste continues on land. Berth plan, rail timetable, barge rotation and trucking schedules are managed by different parties in different systems. When a vessel is late or a storm blocks a fairway, connections are missed — and containers default to the most polluting, most congested mode: the road. Barges sail half-empty and rail capacity goes unused, not for lack of capacity but because nothing re-synchronizes the modes when plans change.
Operators save money precisely by emitting less — the rare alignment that makes a solution adoptable at scale.
IMO-commissioned research (with MarineTraffic, 2022) found that JIT arrival with dynamic speed optimisation over a full voyage cuts fuel use by roughly 14% per trip — and even applying it only to the last 12 hours saves over 4%.
Offer a reliable, continuously updated berth window. Synchronized arrivals free quay space, reduce truck queues at the gate, and build a sustainability profile that attracts cargo.
Trust the window, slow down instead of rushing — and capture the fuel and EU ETS savings directly, while improving CII ratings without retrofits, new fuels or new ships.
Rail, barge and road operators plan around a dependable window: predictable loading times, fuller barges and trains, and fewer containers forced onto the road when connections break.
The Reflows engine runs in the cloud and delivers its scheduling intelligence through APIs. It plugs into the port, terminal and voyage management systems already in use — no on-premise installation, no replacement of current systems, near-zero marginal cost to add a vessel, terminal or hinterland operator.
Multimodal ports and terminals with rail, barge and truck connections — and the vessel operators and carriers that serve them.
Benchmarks from published research — the shadow-mode pilot is designed to measure them per port call.
| Impact area | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel reduction (sea side) | Up to ~14% per voyage when vessels act on reliable JIT berth windows | IMO / MarineTraffic study, 2022 |
| CO₂ reduction | Proportional to fuel savings — thousands of tonnes per vessel per year | DNV: up to 20% CO₂ reduction |
| CII compliance | Built-in CII scoring improves ratings without costly retrofits | IMO SEEMP framework |
| EU ETS cost | Lower fuel burn means a lower carbon bill on every EU voyage | EU ETS Directive, 2023 |
| Modal shift (road → barge/rail) | Reliable berth–hinterland connections keep containers on barge and rail | EU & Dutch modal-shift policy; measured in pilot |
| Port congestion | JIT synchronization cuts anchorage waiting and truck queues at the gate | Measured in pilot |
These figures are industry benchmarks and published research, not Reflows client results — the platform is in development and its first pilots are designed to measure exactly these numbers in practice.
We're preparing our first pilots in the Rotterdam–Antwerp delta. Early partners shape the product — and see the savings measured on their own operations first.