Container operations on Krak Stack: one record from release to invoice

An ordinary one-way lease generates about ten events: the customer request, the release sent to the depot, the gate-out, the transport, the return instruction, the gate-in, the container's condition on return, the pick-up charge invoice, the per diem invoice and, sometimes, a damage claim.

When those events live in separate tools (a stock spreadsheet, depot e-mails, an invoice template, an accounting export), every handover is a retype. That is where the costly errors creep in: a per diem calculated on the wrong return date, a container returned but still shown on hire, a pick-up charge never invoiced, a container offered for sale while it is still under release.

The larger the fleet and the more partner depots involved, the longer those reconciliations take, and the less clear the overall picture becomes.

On Krak Stack, the basic unit is the container, not the contract. Each unit is identified by its ISO 6346 reference, validated and unique. It carries its type (20DC, 40HC, reefer, flat rack and others), its condition, its depot and its operational status.

Business rules are enforced by the system, not by the team's memory. A container cannot appear in two releases or two returns at the same time. The quantity picked up cannot exceed the release, and the quantity returned cannot exceed the return instruction. Every status change is recorded, dated and can be reviewed.

For the team, that means a single answer to one question: where is this container, and what is still to be invoiced on it?

A lease at MG-Atlantic includes a pick-up charge, free days, a per diem, storage terms and damage handling. The Krak Stack leasing module holds those terms for each contract.

Free days are counted container by container, from the recorded pickup and return dates. The per diem invoice is built from those dates: nobody recounts days in a spreadsheet. Invoices are typed (pick-up charge, per diems, storage, damage, trading) and VAT follows the invoiced entity.

A review of closed leases also checks that no pick-up charge and no per diem has been left uninvoiced, and that every invoice is attached to the right record.

MG-Atlantic leases and sells. On Krak Stack, leasing and trading share the same inventory: a container coming back from hire can be offered for sale, and a gate-buy purchase enters stock in the same way as a container in a depot.

Delivery terms are held in the data. With pick-up, the buyer collects the unit at the depot. With gate buy, the unit is in transit and sold before it reaches the ground. Neither term says anything about the direction of the deal: a gate buy is not a purchase, and the system keeps the two axes separate.

The stock shown on mg-atlantic.com's availability pages comes straight from Krak Stack: cities, types, conditions and statuses. For sensitive data, the connection is deliberately one-way: no price, cost or margin leaves the ERP for the public site. MG-Atlantic's reference prices travel the other way: our team decides them, then sends them to the ERP.

That separation also lets us apply compliance rules without exception, for example never publishing stock located in a country under restriction.

The first gain is clarity. The whole fleet is visible in one place: what is in depot, on hire, in transit or sold, what has been returned and what is still to be invoiced. When a container leaves, comes back or changes status, the team knows straight away, without waiting for a month-end reconciliation.

The second is workload. Today the platform covers work that would have required at least three operators and a finance controller: recording movements, calculating per diems, preparing invoices, cross-checking depots, contracts and accounts.

Those are the two reasons we run all of our operations on Krak Stack, and why we recommend it to lessors and traders who still work across separate tools.

Whether the tool is Krak Stack or another one, the questions are the same.

Is the record kept at container level? A tool that tracks contracts without tracking units cannot say what is left to invoice on a given reference.

Do per diems come from the movements? If days are retyped, the error is moved, not removed.

Do leasing and trading share the same stock? A mixed operator running two inventories ends up selling a container that is still on hire.

Is the field covered? A record made at the depot gate beats a list typed up in the evening. Krak Stack offers a mobile app with every screen, as well as bank reconciliation and automatic reading of the stock reports depots send by e-mail.

Is the data traceable and hosted in the right place? Status history, roles and access rights, and hosting in Europe for European operators.

Krak Stack was created and is marketed by EEvolve Me SA, a Geneva digital agency. MG-Atlantic uses the platform in production and helped shape it as a pilot operator.