25 Years of Successful ZAPPing in the Port of Hamburg with DAKOSY

On July 1, 1997, DAKOSY, together with the port economy and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, launched ZAPP (Customs Export Monitoring in the Paperless Port), a pioneering IT platform for digitally supported export control. The motto back then, which still holds true today, was: ZAPP ensures simple, fast, and paperless information flows in the Port of Hamburg.

(Hamburg) “Since a 100% electronic provision of all export data was agreed upon with the main customs office, all loading freight forwarders and exporters had to join in a very short time,” mentions DAKOSY board member Dieter Spark as one of the challenges. Those who had reservations at the beginning or for whom a direct electronic connection was not worthwhile could submit their electronic reports to ZAPP at so-called manual recording stations for a fee. “Within a few months, the platform was established, and soon hardly anyone could remember how the port could function without ZAPP at all,” Spark chuckles.

Continuous Improvement

Since its launch, the platform has been continuously expanded and improved. In 2006, with the introduction of the ATLAS procedure AES (Automated Export System), the new processes were integrated into ZAPP in such a way that the port-side export processing could continue to be optimally supported. Another optimization occurred in 2011 with the electronic connection of ZAPP and IMP (Import Management Platform), which automated the customs processes for transshipments in the Port of Hamburg.

Developed Together with the Port Economy

All further developments of ZAPP were developed and implemented together with the port economy – specifically in the ZAPP working group established for this purpose, with representatives from forwarding companies, container terminals, packing companies, carriers, customs, and DAKOSY. “In 1997, we launched a digitalization engine with ZAPP that has developed a very important future investment for the Port of Hamburg,” explains Thomas Schröder, deputy managing director of the Association of Hamburg Forwarders e.V..

Renewal of the Platform

Currently, work is underway on renewing the platform. In the first step, DAKOSY provided the customs authorities with a ZAPP web application in May 2022. This is now fully operational and allows for greater transparency and even more efficient processes. In the next steps, modernized applications and new interfaces for the other process participants will follow, all aimed at ensuring that ZAPP continues to be a good investment for the future of the Port of Hamburg.

Photo: © HHLA / Thies Rätzke