Agent-supported information retrieval in the logistics chain

In recent years, inter-organizational communication and coordination have relied increasingly on the exchange of EDIFACT messages. Unfortunately, coordination protocols based on EDIFACT are typically complex. As a consequence, coordination by EDIFACT requires a close coupling and a huge number of messages in order to be profitable. In the logistics sector, tracking and tracing based on EDIFACT have led to inflexible alliances between the sender and (a few) forwarders. Furthermore, many "unnecessary" messages are produced when taking into account the fact that only a very small number of shipments face problems leading to delays in delivery. In addition, many forwarders already allow their customers to request status information via the WWW. In cooperation with a large company sending more than 10 million shipments per year, an agent-based system for tracking and tracing called "ECTL-Monitor" (Electronic Commerce Transport Logistics Monitor) was developed in order to replace the principle of pushing information by a more flexible, decentralized search-on-demand system.