PortBIS – A Port Community Information System

In 2008, in response to the NSW Government’s IPART Report on Port Botany, Tradegate proposed that a port community information system, PortBIS, be implemented as a means to improve the flow of cargo through Australia’s 2nd largest container port. This recommendation was supported by Shipping Australia.

Why PortBIS?

PortBIS arose as a direct result of feedback from importers and freight forwarders about the difficulties they faced in obtaining information about their containers/cargoes. In particular, cargo owners and their agents wanted automated answers to:

• What ship is my container on?
• When is the ship scheduled to arrive?
• Has the vessel arrived?
• When is the container available?
• Has it been discharged?
• Has the DO been issued?
• Has the container been picked up?
• Has the empty container been returned?

No one entity is currently able to answer each of these questions as different parties in the maritime supply chain control different events. For example, shipping lines are the only entities that know which ship a container is on. Similarly, only a stevedore knows when a container has been discharged from a vessel.

Importers and forwarders are irritated by the need to go to multiple web sites, make endless phone calls to shipping lines, transport companies and container parks to access and research this information. A broad consensus has emerged within the maritime supply chain that between 20-35 per cent of customer service calls are non-value adding calls about “Where is my container?” This is a substantial cost for the industry to bear.

The myriad of web sites needed to be searched also highlighted that most large importers and forwarders would prefer to have their information electronically supplied in a format for automatic input into their software applications.

These requirements highlighted the current disparate maritime supply chain information flows (See Box) with every entity connecting to every other entity. This makes automation relatively expensive, especially if standards are not used.

PortBIS is designed to gather data from multiple information sources and provide that information either via a web browser or as an automated electronic message. That is, the output of PortBIS is a single electronic format making it economical to automate.

The PortBIS pilot demonstration project has been available since January 2009. The pilot adopted a number of key principles:

• Obtain data from the source e.g. vessel arrivals and departures from Sydney Ports Corporation;
• Wherever possible, use existing data so as to keep costs low
• Use industry agreed standards
• Adopt a national outlook, not an individual port outlook
• Avoid re-inventing the wheel

The initial pilot focused on vessel arrival and departure information the provision of empty container return information and container alerts

During the pilot, over 130 users have accessed the empty container return information within PortBIS while over 290 users accessed the vessel arrival and departure information. A number of customers requested similar information from Brisbane, Fremantle, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Tradegate is pleased to announce that Maritime Safety Queensland, Flinders Ports and Fremantle Ports have agreed to provide vessel arrival and departure information to PortBIS.

PortBIS is receiving empty return information from 45 container parks across Australia on behalf of 12 shipping lines including Maersk, Hapag Lloyd, Hamburg Sud, NYK, PAE, MISC, APL, COSCO, Marfret, Zim, STX Pan Ocean, and Inchcape.

During September and October 2009, a national PortBIS Workshop road show featuring a live demonstration of the Felixstowe port community system – Destin8 – was conducted. Over 200 industry people attended the workshops representing all facets of the industry – port authorities, shipping lines, stevedores, importers, exporters, container parks, transport companies, Customs, AQIS, freight forwarders, customs brokers and government agencies.

Respondents to the survey following the PortBIS Workshops, strongly recommended that the PortBIS pilot should proceed to full implementation.

Survey respondents identified a number of important areas to be included in PortBIS. In preference order there were:

• Schedule information
• Container Park Visibility
• Cargo Availability
• MT Container Return Confirmation
• Single National System, this include Ports, CTO and Shipping Lines
• Dangerous Goods Reporting
• MT Container Release Confirmation
• Vessel Schedules
• Container Tracking
• Customs and AQIS Status

Phase 2 of PortBIS focuses on a national dangerous goods reporting system, the first component of which is in final test with the Port of Brisbane and Fremantle Ports.

Phase 3 is a project which aims at improving the flow of information about the release of empties and the return of empties. This container visibility project is being supported by the Victorian Transport Association and the Port of Brisbane as well as a number of shipping lines, container parks and transport companies. It is an excellent example of a collaborative and co-operative approach to some of the issues facing the industry.

The container visibility project is scheduled to become operative in the first half of calendar 2010.

Should you wish to be involved in PortBIS, or wish to receive further information about it, please contact Tradegate on 1300 552 393.