Tanjung Priok super port - WorldCargo News Online

ICT FOCUS
PNCT goes mobile
Port Newark Container Terminal
(PNCT) in New Jersey has deployed
a new App called Lynx MCA (Mobile
Customer Access) to give truckers and
other customers real time access to information
from its Navis applications.
Lynx MCA was developed by Versiant
Corporation, which has a lot of experience
with Navis software and is its sole
SPARCS N4 implementation partner
for the Americas.
Ports America-owned PNCT operates
Navis SPARCS 2.7 and Express,
plus WebAccess. IT Director Adam Sulich
said WebAccess is used widely by
desk-based staff, from freight forwarders
and shipping lines, to access container
Solvo.TOS
TERMINAL MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS
information by a web browser, but the
trucking community wanted an App
that made container information available
without having to navigate through
PNCT’s website. “The trucking community
is used to dealing with companies
like Fedex and UPS that have Apps
tailored for various contractors, and they
wanted something similar,” he said.
Using Versiant’s Lynx MCA, PNCT
customers can verify container availability,
view vessel schedules, review bookings
and evaluate gate EIRs prior to arriving
at the terminal using virtually any
mobile smartphone or tablet device that
is directly routed from PNCT’s website.
PNCT tested and refined the App
for two months before rolling it out for
Apple, Blackberry and Android Phones.
According to Sulich, the response from
truckers was “enormously positive”.
They provided feedback that led to
some changes in format and functions,
but the App itself and integration and
with the TOS worked from the beginning
without any problems.
Since Lynx MCA was introduced,
PNCT has seen a significant reduction
in calls to its service centre and is now
considering giving more options to mobile
users. Currently they can view information,
but the App is not configured
to enable two-way communication. It
would boost efficiency if truck drivers
could update certain information and
pay demurrage online. PNCT would
also like to link the App to its Twitter
feed, which Sulich said was extremely
Manage with ease!
5 reasons to deploy Solvo.TOS
useful for notifying users about PNCT’s
status in the aftermath of Hurricane
Sandy last year.
Edward Read, Versiant vice president
for application development, said Apps
like Lynx MCA are the way of the future
and the firm is now talking with
other terminal operators in New York
and New Jersey that also want to use it.
Versiant has developed Lynx MCA to
integrate with SPARCS N4, older Navis
software, other brand TOS applications
and other software like billing systems. It
can be configured for two-way communication
to enable users to send information
from mobile devices if required.
The Lynx MCA smartphone App allows
PNCT customers to verify container availability,
among other useful functions, with information
routed from PNCT’s website
1 Cost-effective – we are ready to offer one of the lowest TCO in the industry
2
Truly multifunctional - even the minimal installation allows online management
of both physical processes and paperwork
3
4
Specialized time-tested solutions for any type of terminal:
• Container
• Ro-Ro and heavy-lift trucks
• Intermodal
• Break Bulk only
• Multi-purpose
Additional modules: Billing, Yard, Cargo Plan, KPI, Visualization modules,
Resource planning, patent-pending automated STS-crane operator workstation, WMS
functionality and many more
5 Unique customer focused approach to deployment
Learn more about Solvo.TOS at www.solvo.ru/en/across-the-board
Visit Solvo‘s exhibition
stand #B96 and seminars
at this year’s
TOC Europe,
25-27 June 2013,
Ahoy, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
AutoStow
in testing
A new software application called Auto-
Stow for automated vessel planning is
being tested in Singapore. The software
was developed by the Nanyang Technological
University (NTU) Maritime
Research Centre and School of Computer
Engineering as part of a project in
association with APL and the Maritime
and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).
One of Singapore’s biggest vessel
planning challenges as a transhipment
hub is balancing the loading weight
distribution required for vessel stability
with the need to optimise the vessel
stow for onward ports of call. Optimising
the stow for onward calls can mean
having to add ballast water. Ballast water
is deadweight that costs the shipping line
money to carry – re-handles require extra
port moves and add to port time.
According to the MPA experienced
planners in Singapore take around two
hours to produce a vessel plan, but
it takes years of training to get to that
level, and when planners leave they take
all their knowledge with them. Four
years ago the MPA and APL approached
NTU about developing software to automate
vessel planning. Funding was
obtained for the AutoStow project and
NTU researchers started experimenting
with advanced optimisation techniques
in the stowage planning process.
“The greatest challenge lies in translating
the strategies of human experts for
handling various situations into consistent
and efficient computer algorithms,
and this phase lasted for about two
years'” said the MPA. The result is a software
application that can plan container
distribution within minutes once planers
set up the details of the voyage and vessel
and input the discharge and loading lists.
The project is now in its final stage
of testing with APL. At this stage around
70-80% of the plan generated by software
can be used directly, with the balance
requiring minor “tweaking” by
manual planners.
Osaka App
The port of Osaka is leveraging smartphones
as part of its patent-pending Port
of Osaka Container Truck Information
System. This is a web-based service that
sends real time traffic information via
smartphones and websites. Smartphone
users access an App that displays the length
of the gate queue on a map, with pictures
from cameras outside the gates, and a display
showing the number of vehicles in
the line and the estimated waiting time.
Information from connected smartphones
is also fed into a website that
shows registered trucking companies the
location of their trucks outside the terminal.
Masaharu Shinohara, executive
officer for engineering and planning at
Osaka, said the App has proved very useful
in helping balance the gate workflow.
Truck queues can reach up to 3km long
at times. Truckers can access the App and
decide not to come to the port if gate
congestion is too heavy and they are able
to take another job.
30
May 2013