Many people already use ChatGPT or Claude at work. They ask it to write an email, sum up a document or check a sentence. With BerthTime, you can also ask it about your containers.
You type a question in plain words, like "Which of my containers arrive this week?". The assistant looks it up in your BerthTime account and answers. No dashboard to open, no reference number to copy.
What the connection does
BerthTime runs an MCP server. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants use outside services. You add BerthTime to your assistant once, sign in with your BerthTime account, and from then on the assistant can read your shipments when you ask about them.
You do not need to be technical. You paste one address and sign in. That is all.
Questions it can answer
Ask it like you would ask a colleague:
- "Where is container MSCU1234566 right now?"
- "Which of my containers arrive this week?"
- "Is anything delayed by more than two days?"
- "What has happened to my Felixstowe shipment so far?"
- "Which shipments are likely to arrive late?"
The assistant can find a shipment by container, bill of lading or booking number, or by your own reference. It can tell you the carrier's ETA, whether it has moved, and our estimate based on the vessel's position. It can list what arrives soon, what is late, and walk you through the history of a shipment: loading, transshipment, departure, arrival.
The answers use the same data as your BerthTime account. BerthTime updates every shipment automatically, so you never need to refresh anything first.
How to connect it
It takes a few minutes. You need a BerthTime account and an account with your AI assistant. The full steps, with the server address to paste, are on the AI assistant page.
In Claude (claude.ai and the desktop app):
- Open Customize, then Connectors, and click Add custom connector.
- Name it BerthTime, paste the server address and click Add.
- Click Connect. A BerthTime page opens: log in, pick your company, choose Read only or Read and write, then click Allow.
- In a new chat, switch BerthTime on and ask your question.
In ChatGPT (chatgpt.com):
- Open Settings, then Plugins, click Add and choose Custom.
- Name it BerthTime, paste the server address, choose OAuth, and create it as a plugin.
- Sign in to BerthTime, pick your company, choose the access, then click Allow.
- In a new chat, choose BerthTime and ask.
Adding your own plugin in ChatGPT depends on your ChatGPT plan and workspace. Both assistants also rename their menus from time to time: if a screen looks different, look for "Connectors", "Plugins" or "Apps".
Developer tools that support remote MCP servers, such as Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code, work too.
What it can change, and what it cannot
When you connect, you choose the access:
- Read only (the safe choice). The assistant can look things up. It cannot add, change or archive anything.
- Read and write. The assistant can also start tracking a new number, create a share link, archive a shipment or contact our support for you. Only admins and owners of a BerthTime company can give this access. A number it starts tracking counts like a shipment you add yourself.
Either way, the assistant cannot book freight, contact carriers, or read your emails and documents. It only sees the companies you picked when you signed in, plus the shipments partners chose to share with you.
Each colleague connects with their own BerthTime account. Team members get read-only access.
Asking questions is included in every BerthTime plan. Your AI assistant's own subscription is separate.
Privacy in one paragraph
When the assistant reads your shipments, that information goes to the AI provider you use (OpenAI for ChatGPT, Anthropic for Claude) and is handled under your agreement with them. Check your AI account's data settings if that matters to your company. On the BerthTime side, every request is rate-limited and written to your company's audit log, and you can disconnect at any time in Settings > AI assistants: it stops working at once.
One last tip
AI assistants can misread a question or sum up an answer wrongly. For an important date, open the shipment in BerthTime and check.
Ready to try? Start a free trial, add a few containers, then follow the steps on the AI assistant page.