SOS out of the starting blocks in Beets (Noord-Holland)
Friday, 8 November 2019
On 5 November 2019 the operations of Stichting IMN's National Central Reporting Point ('LCM') were transferred to CED Nederland ('CED'), the parent company of SOS International ('SOS'). And with that, the curtain fell for Allianz Global Assistance ('AGA') that had been responsible for the LCM for nearly ten years.
Ryan Florijn (R), chair of Stichting IMN, congratulates Hans Coffeng, managing director of CED, on the transfer of the LCM, in front of the offices of SOS International in Amsterdam-Zuidoost on 5 November 2019.
In the past ten years AGA has overseen a radical overhaul of the Stichting IMN reporting centre. The number of IM (incident management) reports doubled, from under 60,000 in 2009 to more than 130,000 in the past twelve months. AGA managed the implementation of very high service levels in relation to the telephone processing of incident reports. In addition, the company was responsible for the introduction of the electronic incident management reporting system ('EMI') that replaced the process of telephone call-out for recovery operators with automated messaging.
Hanneriek Jansen, one of the founders of the modern LCM at AGA
The LCM has been awarded to SOS for a period of five years at most, following a tender procedure that was held in 2018. This procedure culminated in the prospective award of the contract to SOS in September 2018. SOS then set to work configuring the infrastructure required to operate the LCM. The infrastructure in question was subjected to a rigorous test procedure in 2019. The conclusion drawn in the summer was that SOS was able to meet all the requirements and, on 30 July 2019, the contract was formally awarded.
Remco Muller, project manager responsible for implementing the LCM at SOS, during formal commissioning of the LCM on 5 November 2019 in Amsterdam
The first incoming report, received last Tuesday by SOS, arrived at 12.09 p.m. from Rijkswaterstaat's traffic control centre for the north-west of the Netherlands. It related to a breakdown removal on the A7, near the settlement of Beets, between Purmerend and Hoorn. The recovery operator tasked with the job was Schoenmaker en Zn, from Avenhorn. As not all telephone lines could be switched over at the same time, AGA received and dealt with its last report twenty minutes later. The ANWB reported a hazardous breakdown on the A2 at Maarheeze. Mila Doorn of AGA forwarded the report to Autosleepbedrijf Sprankenis, in Leende, using the electronic incident management reporting system.
Wisseling van de wacht: de laatste meldingen van AGA (eindigend op NLD) en de eerste meldingen van SOS op 5 november 2019