Contargo is currently planning its own Terminal Operating System, a comprehensive software system to optimise operational processes at its container terminals. To develop this software, the company has formed two teams, made up of its own employees plus the personnel of a service provider. The project is being realised with Scrum, a method for the management of agile software projects. Contargo has been using this method since 2010 and has developed many high-performance products with it.

Contargo’s approach differs from the usual Scrum method in that there are both specialist and technical product owners. A feature of Contargo’s approach is the close collaboration of the specialist (logistics) employees in a user group, supporting the specialist product owners and contributing their experience to the project.

This sounds rather complex, but it is not without reason that Contargo made the decision to develop the software in-house: “With central IT systems, it is the long-term security of investment which is decisive for Contargo”, explains Heinrich Kerstgens, Co-Managing Director of Contargo GmbH & Co. KG. “Thus with systems like a Terminal Operations System, we need to have the source code available. A call to tender made it clear that no well-known manufacturer was prepared to meet this requirement. So we decided to develop the TOS software ourselves.”