DCSA Reference Documentation / Standards / Standard Releases / Operational Vessel Schedules / Archive / Operational Vessel Schedules v3.0.2

DCSA OVS 3.0.2 - Purpose & Scope

Archived copy: This immutable copy preserves Operational Vessel Schedules v3.0.2. View the current v3 documentation.

This page is published as part of the complete documentation set for this version. Content has been updated to align with other standards; its intention and meaning remain unchanged.

Contents

• Introduction
  • Preface
  • Purpose
  • Scope
  • Supporting publications

Introduction

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 DCSA 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, such as JSON, REST, and OpenAPI, the standards published by DCSA are technology agnostic.

This chapter describes the purpose, scope and supporting publications of this document.

Purpose

The objective of the DCSA Interface Standard for Operational Vessel Schedules is to simplify and standardise the exchange of vessel schedule information between vessel operators and operational stakeholders. In doing so, this publication supports standardisation of the fundamental information exchanged across the liner vessel operator domain.

This publication focuses on creating agreement around the shared requirements and standards needed to streamline interoperable functionality and data sharing across relevant industry participants. These requirements are supported by the use cases and subject areas defined for the standard.

By aligning these requirements, all adopters of the standard will offer interfaces with consistent functionality, definitions, and data formats. This eliminates the need for custom integrations and helps ensure a consistent end-user experience across all industry participants that implement and use the standard. To that end, the standard must be implemented in a 100% conformant way by every adopter in the ecosystem.

Scope

The scope of the Interface Standard for Operational Vessel Schedules is summarised in the table below.

Area	Scope
Actors	The Interface Standard describes exchanges of information between any two parties. For Operational Vessel Schedules, the most relevant parties are: - Vessel operator - Shared service partner - Operational third parties, such as port terminals Other parties may also be involved in the movement of goods, such as haulers, freight forwarders, feeder operators, barge operators, and solution providers. However, DCSA considers the parties listed above to be the main stakeholders in the context of Operational Vessel Schedules.
Functional Scope	- Long Term Schedule & Regional/Coastal Schedule Deep-sea (interregional services) Intraregional & Feeder Services - Where available, the operational vessel schedule may include estimated time of arrival information for the Pilot Boarding Place. This supports berth alignment between terminals and carriers, particularly in ports where the Pilot Boarding Place ETA is used as part of short-term or coastal operational schedule coordination. - Changes and Exceptions (i.e., Port Omission, Blank Sailing, Inducement, Phase In/Out, etc.) - The standard supports the use of universal references to improve consistent identification and communication between operational partners, as defined by DCSA (Universal Service Reference, Universal Voyage Reference)

Supporting publications

This Interface Standard document is supported by a range of supplementary DCSA publications. The supporting publications are listed in the table below and can be found on the DCSA website.

Publication	Description
DCSA Operational Vessel Schedules Data Overview	This document contains the complete list of data objects and attributes relevant to the Operational Vessel Schedules use cases, specifying whether each attribute is mandatory, conditionally mandatory, or optional. In addition, the data overview includes the parameters available for filtering queries and the possible filter combinations.
DCSA Operational Vessel Schedules Definitions	This document aims to standardise the terminology, definitions, and processes related to the communication of operational vessel schedules between operational partners. The purpose is to facilitate standardisation and accuracy in partner communication and to reduce pain points related to operational vessel schedule communication and exception management.
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 2026. Q1	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 accessible 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.