Royal United Shipping Agencies
Since its founding in 1876, the Royal United Shipping Agencies (KVSA) has been a household name in the North Sea Canal area. KVSA has a long history and has undergone remarkable developments. The company now consists of two main branches: Maritime & Logistics and Data & Intelligence. The first is a one-stop shop for shipowners and shippers, and the second is the facilitator for the further optimization of communication and information provision for the maritime and logistics sector. If it is 'even remotely related to shipping', you can turn to KVSA.
From the Felison Terminal, KVSA Maritiem & Logistiek serves one of its largest clients, DFDS, which sails daily to Newcastle. In addition, around 40 to 60 vessels are unloaded and loaded annually from this location, for which all other services are also arranged. Furthermore, Maritiem & Logistiek acts as an agent for shipping companies in sectors including fishing, dry bulk, ferries, tankers, and offshore wind energy.
The Data & Intelligence branch of KVSA focused on communication and information sharing, particularly for shipbrokers, shipping companies, agents, and shipper groups, long before digitalization.
The developers at KVSA know the 'ins and outs' of ships and ports, enabling them to convert maritime and logistical data into visions and translate those into user-friendly platforms and systems.
After years of intensive and trouble-free operation, KVSA's entire IT environment was due for replacement. Several years ago, a substantial investment was made to establish an IT data center. Over the years, however, this choice did not yield the desired results. Therefore, a different path was chosen. In doing so, it was important to downsize the IT environment and adapt it to current needs and requirements. It was clear that a manageable, stable, and flexible IT environment had to take its place.
The goal of the collaboration with Socia The initial task, therefore, was to unravel the enormous tangle the network had grown into over the years. Because small pieces had been added to the network repeatedly in the past, without a clear strategy, and the entire server room was filled with refurbished switches and loose components, everything was mixed up. This whole system was kept running by a full-time network engineer. All of this cost a great deal of money and time: a full-time employee, power consumption for all the switches, and cooling the switches. Socia the task, as a network specialist, to bring structure and more stability to the network and also to ensure security in this process.
The project started in late January, early February, following a lengthy inventory phase. Despite this, planning seemed destined to be quite a challenge due to the enormous labyrinth the network had become. Partly because of this lack of clarity, both parties decided from the outset to plan the task relatively superficially. This meant not putting too much energy into planning and organizing beforehand, but rather sensing how to proceed as we went along. That proved to be the right approach, as the employees of Socia have managed to unravel and map the network in 'relative calm'. All the various hardware components and networks were subsequently drastically reduced and implemented redundantly. With this new setup, KVSA has the IT environment that suits the current organization and future plans. Easy to manage and maintain.
KVSA has also outsourced the maintenance of the new IT environment to Socia: “The choice for Socia It was simple; trust was established after the pleasant experience with the network project. If an issue arises now, we know it will be resolved quickly. At the moment, the environment is running very stably and there are few issues. The maintenance agreements will be reviewed again shortly to align them with the current situation.
Looking at the points for improvement, this primarily relates to communication regarding issues. In some cases, issues are handled too pragmatically, without taking the underlying cause into account. It is wiser and necessary to ask further questions so that we truly get to the core of a problem or issue before acting too quickly based on assumptions. We sometimes forget that.
Richard Bakker, KVSA: “I am very satisfied with how the preliminary phase for the network project went. A technically sound solution was provided, where we only downscaled on certain components because we simply needed less than was proposed. In that respect, too, Socia They thought along well with our organization. The interaction between the various employees, who were able to balance each other out in this, was pleasant. What worked very well for us was the flexibility in taking on this project, simply because it was impossible to map out what we would encounter along the way. It turned out very well for us that no standard working method or schedule had to be followed. The goal of creating more stability in the network and better ensuring security has certainly been achieved. There is now more overview, and weaknesses within the network are detected and addressed sooner. Our organizations simply complement each other well: the hands-on mentality and the ability to switch gears quickly to get things done. I also always receive quotations quickly. The delivery of hardware and network components for a terminal here in the port of IJmuiden could also be realized in a very short time, and I look back on that with satisfaction.
