What does a port community system do?

It connects a port's public and private parties so information is exchanged electronically, submitted once and reused. IPCSA describes it as optimising, managing and automating port and logistics processes.

The port community system for Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the executive organisation of both port authorities for connecting the port community digitally. It had 34,000 users in 2025.

Is a port community system the same as a single window?

Not automatically. UN/CEFACT counts a PCS as a single window only if it meets all five key elements of Recommendation 33, including being the only PCS in the economy.

Term

Port community system (PCS)

A port community system (PCS) is a neutral, open electronic platform that lets a port's public and private parties — customs, terminals, shipping lines, forwarders, hauliers — exchange information securely, with data submitted once and reused. Rotterdam and Amsterdam's Portbase had 34,000 users from 7,200 organisations in 2025.

Also called PCS, port community platform, community system provider, CSP, port data platformUpdated 14 October 2026

Three systems

PCS	Where	Scale, as published
Portbase	Rotterdam and Amsterdam, for both port authorities	34,000 users and 7,200 connected organisations in 2025, up from 29,000 and 6,200 in 2024
Destin8, run by MCP	UK	17 UK ports and 50+ inland clearance locations, about 75% of UK container throughput (IPCSA, undated)
Dubai Trade	Dubai	Over 700 e-services

IPCSA, the international association of port community systems, says a PCS optimises, manages and automates port and logistics processes through a single submission of data, connecting transport and logistics chains, with EDI-based exchange available 24/7/365 — and that it is ideally placed to be the backbone of a national single window. MCP calls itself the UK's leading port community systems provider. Portbase describes the next step as events: instead of transmitting entire datasets, it sends clear messages about specific logistics occurrences.

Worked example: one export container

Without a PCS: booking to the line, export declaration to customs, container details to the terminal, collection slot to the haulier — 4 submissions of overlapping data · with a PCS: submitted once, re-used by each party that needs it

Illustrative; the single submission and re-use are IPCSA's own description of a port community system.

The mistake people make

Treating a PCS as the national single window. UN/CEFACT says a port community system can be considered a single window only if it satisfies the five key elements of Recommendation 33, one of which is that there is only one PCS in the economy. A country with several port systems has several PCSs, not one window.

FAQ