IN Brief:
- ONE has extended its existing Avantida container reuse partnership to Switzerland.
- The platform matches eligible import empties with export bookings, subject to participating parties and carrier approval.
- No Swiss shipment volumes, launch targets or quantified emissions reductions have been disclosed.
Ocean Network Express (ONE) has extended container reuse arrangements into Switzerland through its existing partnership with Avantida, allowing transport operators to seek permission to use a container emptied after an import delivery for a subsequent export shipment. The service addresses a recurring inland freight movement: returning an empty box to a depot before collecting another empty box for export loading.
The alternative, commonly described as a street turn, connects two transport tasks using the same physical container. Once an inbound customer has unloaded the cargo, the box can move to a compatible exporter rather than travelling first to a designated empty-return facility. In practice, a useful match requires the right equipment, locations, dates and carrier authorisation. The new Swiss availability expands the reach of an established process rather than creating an entirely new shipping partnership.
Avantida’s platform allows a transporter to offer an import container that is becoming empty or register an export booking that needs equipment. The matching tool compares the two movements and offers potential pairings, which can involve one haulier’s own jobs or a handover between different transport companies. Its documentation describes a sequence of listing equipment, finding a compatible booking and agreeing the handover. An ocean carrier must authorise the reuse before the box is redirected for export, because it remains part of the carrier’s equipment fleet.
Matching changes the order of road movements. Instead of delivering import cargo, returning the empty to a depot and later collecting another box for export, a transport operator can route the emptied container towards a compatible shipper. That removes intermediate handling where the customer locations and timing permit it. The physical savings depend on the distance between importer and exporter, availability of the box, collection slots and the depot trip otherwise required. A match therefore needs workable dispatch timings alongside geographic proximity.
Switzerland’s international container flows depend on inland road and rail links to European maritime gateways. Equipment discharged at a seaport can move inland to an importing customer, while an exporter may be waiting elsewhere for a suitable empty container. Inland depots help balance those flows, but moving boxes through them adds transport legs and handling appointments. Extending the matching service to Switzerland creates another way to coordinate import returns with export demand within that network, particularly when the two movements occur close together.
Equipment suitability imposes practical limits. An export booking may need a particular size or type of container, while a recently emptied import box must be acceptable for the next cargo and movement. The exporter also needs access to that equipment before its loading deadline. A match that appears geographically convenient can fail if the container is released too late, requires attention or belongs to a carrier that has not approved the proposed transfer.
The platform’s collaboration process also governs which information is shared. Avantida says other transporters initially see location information at postcode level rather than full customer addresses. Once two parties agree a reuse match, additional details can be exchanged to arrange the handover; the ocean carrier receives a request after both parties have confirmed it. The system can perform prevalidation of a proposed match and can accept information from planning software, reducing the manual entry required when operators submit repeated import and export movements.
When a street turn replaces two separate empty movements, it can reduce fuel use, depot transactions and the distance driven without cargo. The same movement can also reduce time spent arranging an empty return and a fresh collection, although the outcome varies with depot locations and the export loading deadline. ONE and Avantida have not released Swiss transaction volumes or quantified savings. Any reduction in emissions or costs will depend on the journeys actually avoided after the service is used, rather than the number of operators able to access it.
Equipment constraints remain central to that calculation. A matched box must have the size, type and condition accepted for the export booking, and the carrier must permit its reuse in the proposed location. Loading deadlines can defeat an otherwise attractive geographical match if an import customer is still unloading the container. An agreement between two hauliers must also fix where and when the box changes hands. By bringing those checks into the request workflow, the platform can turn a possible match into an authorised transport instruction when each condition is satisfied.
ONE and Avantida have used the same reuse approach in other markets, and the Swiss addition extends the available service into another inland container network. Its operational effect will be visible through the number of completed matches, the equipment types reused and the journeys no longer required through empty depots. Those measures have not yet been published for Switzerland. Transport companies can now put suitable import boxes and export bookings through the matching and carrier approval process as those movements arise.
