1.1 Preface

DCSA envisions a digitally interconnected container shipping industry. Our mission is to be the de facto standards body for the industry, setting the technological foundation for interoperable IT solutions. Together with our member carriers, DCSA creates vendor-neutral standards for IT and non-competitive business practices. By working towards the widespread adoption of these standards, our aim is to move the industry forward in terms of customer experience, efficiency, collaboration, innovation and respect for the environment. The objective of the DCSA Data and Interface Standard program is to strengthen the container shipping industry’s ability to send and receive data across all parties in the industry. Furthermore, it aims to enhance inter-carrier cooperation based on shared requirements and to ensure interoperability by using a shared data language. This language is inspired by existing standards and is aligned with the industry process definitions put forth in the DCSA Industry Blueprint.Apart from the reliance on a small set of widely used open-source technologies and standards (e.g. JSON, REST, OpenAPI), the standards published by DCSA are technology agnostic.This chapter describes the purpose, scope, conformance and supporting publications of this document.
The objective of the DCSA Data and Interface Standard program is to strengthen the container shipping industry’s ability to send and receive data across all parties in the industry.

1.2 Purpose

The objective of the DCSA Interface Standard for the Booking process is to simplify the exchange of information between shippers and carriers for booking shipments, making the process more efficient and less prone to errors. In doing so, this publication supports standardisation of the fundamental information exchanged between these parties. The focus of this publication is to ensure agreement on the shared requirements and standards that must be followed to streamline interoperational functionality and data sharing across relevant industry participants.Agreement on standards will ensure that data exchange interfaces, including functionality and data provided, will follow the same definitions and design. The aim is to ensure that the end-user experience remains consistent across all industry participants who use these standards without the need for customization. The standard must therefore be implemented in a 100% conformant way by every adopter in the ecosystem.

1.3 Scope

The scope of the Interface Standard for the booking process is summarised in the table below.

Topic

Description

Actors

The interface standard describes all exchanges of information between any two parties. For the Booking process, the most relevant parties are:

  • Shipper (or Booking Agent)
  • Carrier

Other parties involved in the exchange of information regarding bookings, such as container depots and customs authorities are not in scope of this publication.

Scope

The Interface Standard addresses the following types of cargo:

  • Containerised cargo​
  • Standard dry cargo, reefer, dangerous goods​

Modules

The entire booking life cycle, which includes: ​

  • Booking request
  • Booking update
  • Booking confirmation
  • Booking amendment
  • Booking cancellation
  • Booking rejection

1.4 Supporting publications

This standard is supported by a range of supplementary DCSA publications. The supporting publications are listed in the table below.

Publication

Description

DCSA Booking 2.0.0 Data overview

This document contains a complete list of the data attributes that are relevant input for the use cases defined in the Interface Standard for Booking 2.0.0, including a stipulation as to whether the properties are mandatory, conditional mandatory, or optional per use case.

DCSA Information Model 2024.Q3

The DCSA Information Model has been created to organise and catalogue the information being generated or consumed in connection with the processes described in the DCSA Industry Blueprint. The information model is also used as a collective term to describe all products that model data. The information model includes a diagrammatic representation of selected data entities and their relationships with one another.

DCSA Shipping Glossary of Terms

This document explains international container shipping terminology used within the industry, fostering communication and promoting standardisation among stakeholders.

DCSA Industry Blueprint 2023.Q4

This document consists of a compilation of business processes that are considered critical for industry digitalization and standardisation efforts, and that are not considered commercially sensitive or of competitive advantage. It offers an interactive way to understand the container shipping industry by providing industry-approved processes and data definitions. Additionally, it visually demonstrates the domains where DCSA's standards are applied. 

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