International milestone achieved

South African ports and Zebra Enterprise Solutions, a division of Zebra Technologies (Nasdaq: ZBRA), achieved an international milestone this month when Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) became the first port operator worldwide poised to manage the Navis™ SPARCS N4 terminal operating system from a central location across 21 marine and rail terminals. Three of Transnet’s  marine terminals are already live with SPARCS N4.
Transnet’s central system is based at the company’s main office in Durban where the multi-site set up is in place to streamline operations at TPT terminals with SPARCS N4. TPT will implement SPARCS N4 in seven marine terminals and 14 rail terminals by 2010 to offer a single point-of-entry to customers irrespective of where they conduct business in South Africa.  SPARCS N4 will provide TPT customers with a seamless and integrated service across the port and rail environment. 
“Ultimately this will result in a single invoice to the customer for services performed by multiple operating divisions within Transnet,” said Mark Wootton, Executive Manager of ICT Capital Projects and Technology at Transnet Port Terminals. “For the customer, the cost of doing business should decrease and the competitiveness of South Africa increase through a more effective, integrated supply chain.”
Pier 1 in Durban was the first of the seven marine terminals to implement SPARCS N4. In February, Port Elizabeth Container Terminal went live and East London Multi-Purpose Terminal went live on March 14, the second and third terminals respectively to implement the Navis solution. SPARCS N4 will be rolled out to the remaining terminals such as the Durban and Cape Town container terminals by next year.
The web-based SPARCS N4 operating system governs the movement of all container logistics and operations from gate to yard to vessel and offers users improved customer support, lower operating costs and increased stacking yard capacity. It enables greater control over resources for operations to quickly and intelligently respond to changes or disruptions in the flow of cargo.
“Our progress has been watched with keen interest by global terminal operators like Dubai Port World,” Wootton said. “This latest version of Navis is currently used by just over 10 ports worldwide including those in New Zealand and Australia. Although Navis offers this multi-site, single-server functionality, South Africa is the first to take advantage of it to run more than one site off a single system successfully. This is something we can be very proud of.”
More importantly customers should start to enjoy the benefits of migration to Navis, including centralised visibility of information between TPT as the operator and its customers, as well as enhanced communication with TPT via web-based electronic data interchange. The system supports paperless operations and reduces costly errors through its real-time tracking of terminal operations from vessel to yard.
Terence Scheinberg, vessel operator in the freight department of shipping line PIL South Africa, was the first container operator to use the export booking application in Port Elizabeth.
He praised its user-friendly interface saying, “I am convinced Navis is a brilliant and user-friendly system that will assist all in better planning and integration in line with global standards.  The minute customers input data it is fed back to the terminal almost immediately in a secure environment, and vice versa.
“This eliminates the need for customers to get on the phone with the relevant port representatives to coordinate planning. We can see all the relevant information online in real-time regarding how the shift is working and plan accordingly. We can also capture bookings or release containers from our own desks without our drivers having to get to the port to sit in queues waiting to collect containers,” Scheinberg said.
Scheinberg also cited several other benefits since he started using the system earlier this month.
“The advanced reporting and electronic alert functions are excellent and almost any management report, summary or query can be exported into an application like Excel. Customers are also no longer required to pay an amendment fee each time a change is made to a container booking, as such changes can be updated immediately online via Navis,” he said.
Wootton said the system would in the future also allow better integration between the port operations of TPT and the rail operations of sister company, Transnet Freight Rail. The integration will be in line with Transnet’s focus on corridors or routes of port-rail integration to improve the service offered to customers.
“Navis also allows inter-terminal integration and synchronised planning, so if a vessel is scheduled to call at several terminals across the country every link in the chain can track its progress and plan efficiently,” he added.
Bill Walsh, General Manager at Zebra Enterprise Solutions in Oakland, California (USA), recently visited Transnet’s South African headquarters and participated in a tour of the facilities.  “The site tour was very impressive, and I very much enjoyed hearing about how Navis SPARCS N4 will support Transnet plans to centralize its operations,” he said. “SPARCS N4 will enable Transnet Port Terminals to address tough challenges that may arise, as a result of its growth, and will help the terminals successfully meet or exceed its business goals.”
By selecting SPARCS N4, Transnet will leverage more than 1000 site-years of live production experience in more than 50 countries at more than 400 customer sites around the world. Neither an in-house system nor a competitor can provide Transnet with this level of flexibility, depth of functionality and ROI.

Source: Transportweekly