The pandemic can prompt an entire restructure of the current framework employed in exercising global supply chain operations. The impacts of stalled shipments, blank sailings, staff layoffs, and overall plummet in consumer sentiments have shackled everyone involved in the supply chain. It has raised significant concerns for countries that predominantly rely on international trade, which may now need to consider diversifying their supply sources.

Earlier on during the outbreak, China enforced a nationwide lockdown that limited any form of movement. Inevitably being the behemoth for manufacturing, their exports could not depart on vessels since logistics halted to a standstill. Consequently, buyers can no longer receive their manufacturing goods or raw materials to continue the supply chain. The economic crisis further propelled a downturn in consumer behavior, which inherently lead container volumes to drop to historic lows. With all this in retrospect, it outlines the magnitude of the impacts that initiate a domino effect, reverberating into all operations and players involved in global trade. Due to the changing and unprecedented circumstances making existing processes inapplicable, businesses worldwide are now reassessing their dependence on China as their leading trade partner.

Some governments have encouraged localizing trade and moving manufacturing activity onshore as an alternative to mitigate the faltering flow of goods in case of a rise from another unprecedented event. The number of vessels downsizing to make shorter trips with fewer containers, as well as an increase in intermodal, freight, and truck activity, would be the likelihood if nations were to enact this pathway. Otherwise, materials and manufacturing will be spread across suppliers equally, diversifying the risks if all op the face of a player unable to supply the resources. Will we witness a manufacturing pivot as the pandemic develops a new era for the economy?

The hyperdynamic COVID-19 has caused tumultuous events to unfold, cornering businesses and operations into unfamiliar grounds. For a long time, the industries involved with the supply chain and logistics have adhered to traditional methods, which has proved to be detrimental as it can no longer sufficiently respond to the downturn of economic health. The operational flow will continue to suffer a dear amount if authorities fail to emerge from complacency and accept some technological innovations like AI. Therefore, the implementation of a consistent and ubiquitous framework is necessary to deliver best-practice measures to protect the livelihood, wellbeing, and safety to both individuals and businesses.

Achieving a consistent industry-wide solution requires diligence and patience. Technology is continually evolving, and although it may impose significant changes, it is a sustainable approach offering long-term benefits that provide reliability and stability in unprecedented events. However, to ensure the best performance derives from an AI application:

1. TOS must operate on a true real-time architecture that enables both shared memory and in-memory processing.

2. TOS can move operations in the cloud to achieve maximum flexibility, as well as implement optimization and automation tools to strengthen AI capabilities.

3. TOS must operate in a single server infrastructure for consistent and instantaneous data flow.

Although tactical planning consists of smaller short-term steps to reduce immediate impacts, you cannot remedy a problem of global magnitude with a temporary solution. Therefore, it is crucial to practice precaution and evaluate product specifications against your criteria before implementation. More substantial due care must be employed to keep an open mind and leverage optimal levels of such an incredible innovation. Technology advancements no longer connote a downturn of investments or revenues, but rather, has risen as a catalytic force that fights economic contractions.

TIC 4.0 was founded in 2019 and brings together leading terminal operators, equipment manufacturers and solutions providers to promote, define and adopt standards. Now, the initiative has been formally registered during a ceremony in Brussels, Belgium.

In a statement, TIC 4.0 said Boris Wenzel, Managing Director, Terminal Link, would be its president and Norbert Klettner, Managing Director, RBS-EMEA, its vice-president.

Frank Kho, who has numerous experience with terminal operators and equipment manufacturers, will become CEO. The current 20 members of TIC are a good mix of terminal operators and suppliers in the industry, who are Hyster-Yale, Kalmar, KoneCranes, Kuenz, Liebherr, NAVIS, Phoenix Lighting, RBS, SICK, TBA, TMEIC, ZPMC, APMT, Bollore, Eurogate, Port of Koper, PSA, Terminal Link, MMC Ports and Yilport, several other organizations have expressed their interest to join this unique initiative.

The goal of TIC 4.0 is to promote, define and adopt standards that will enable the cargo-handling industry to embrace the 4th Industrial Revolution. Therefore TIC 4.0 will also strive to attract more members from the terminals operators as well as industry suppliers.

Its initial objectives are as follows:

• Define and agree on a common semantics and definitions among the companies involved in the cargo handling industry, both terminal operators and port solution providers.

• Develop communication protocols and frameworks that will be adopted by the port industry players for seamless data communication regardless of the manufacturer or type of equipment/machine.

• Facilitate the inter-operability of different information sub-systems of a cargo handling facility.

• Promote the adoption of selected existing standards and those developed by TIC 4.0 by the sector.

“I really feel that both energy and commitment prevail among TIC 4.0 members to achieve the goals we have set. I believe that to achieve these goals, the cooperation between terminal operators and solution providers is a great critical success factor,” said Frank Kho.

“TIC 4.0 members all believe that the work on standardization is of utmost importance for our industry in the context of increased digitalization of the supply chain. It will also enable the adoption of innovative processes and solutions” added Boris Wenzel.

Click here to visit RBS EMEA.

Terminal optimization may be easily definable as a terminal operating system that devises intelligent capabilities which facilitate more efficient operations and processes. However, this explanation provides a very basic understanding of optimization and confines it from its complex nature. All planning, instructions, and decisions made within a terminal can be optimized, and therefore, is inclusive of any activity on the operational spectrum that ranges from vessel berthing to managing containers within the yard. Optimization is not limited to the sole objective of achieving productivity, and instead, is also responsible for forecasting the emergence of any potential problem areas, depleting costs, and balancing various resources to yield transparency in all decisions.

Due to the underlying definition of terminal optimization, it is easy to slap this label onto any TOS and certify their functionalities as being able to deliver the most optimal decisions. Each TOS has divergent views of optimization, and hence renders different functionalities which generate different results. If a TOS is not maximizing the use of the available resources and achieving the desired outcome, the terminal is highly likely exposed to the risk of suffering in performance. Optimization must be supported by the correct technology and established on a robust infrastructure to ensure they are not encountering any conflict in operational priorities – being unable to achieve the optimal and most functional outcome without sacrificing a set parameter. Each decision made by the TOS should be calculated with diligence and account for all contingencies without omitting any set parameter to present terminal operators with the most viable optimal solution.

A TOS with refined terminal optimization should exhibit the following capabilities and benefits:

• Forecasting problems – warrant an early detection of upcoming issues that can constrain daily terminal operations
• Risk management – instigate proactive measures in responding to any potential risks or challenges
• Reduce costs – TOS users can leverage forecasting problems earlier to avoid investing financial resources in amending issues
• Improve process efficiency – avoids vessel waiting times and resource bottlenecks
• Improve operational efficiency – heed greater control and visibility as a result of optimized resources and forecasting abilities
• Faster Decision-Making – the timeframe for planning and exercising decisions should be significantly reduced and not at the expense of any set requirements to reflect a capable TOS
• Accurate information – TOS should have AI integrated into the system and automated data to provide accurate information which inhibits errors from ensuing, granting heightened visibility over operations
• Performance monitoring and accountability – increased traceability over all activity conducted within a terminal which is owed to optimization sharing information across departments which derives optimum results
• Transparency – every projected scenario must reinforce all the parameters set by the user to contribute a clear and refined decision

Therefore, optimization transcends the rudimentary notion of being limited to just efficiency and requires accurate and in-depth knowledge of the associated processes before it can be clarified as a TOS that can truly exhibit optimization. The term can be loosely defined which administers greater responsibility for terminal operators to take prudence when searching for a TOS. As a result, a TOS that can truly optimize all activity within a terminal should be ergonomically stable and absorb all factors without excluding any benefits.

There is an inherent interrelation between technology and trade – whereby inducing advancements in technology instigates further growth of globalization. With containerization playing an integral role in this process, it is critical to understand that the global supply chain has become incredibly dependent on terminals to fuel the economy. Countries worldwide who are working towards a more sustainable economy, hint that terminals, regardless of their size or type of cargo they manage, must expedite their presence in the Container Handling Industry to participate as well as attribute to the growth in the economy. Therefore, all terminals must ensure their operations are always executed at the optimum and adopt a Terminal Operating System (TOS) that is best tailored to their current and future needs at a cost-effective price.

The purpose of a TOS is to accommodate to all operations and processes which provide palpable insight to assist in planning and heed greater visibility over the performance of terminal operations. Selecting a static TOS that only satisfies current projected requirements is an illustration of tactical planning that centralizes only on short-term goals. Although tactical planning can generate immediate results, it may also pose as a barrier to prospective success. Terminals, as a result, must be diligent when selecting a TOS that not only fulfills specialized needs but reinforces both tactical planning and strategic planning to conjure functionalities that are also future proofed. As a terminal grows, their operations and objectives inevitably change, requiring a flexible TOS that can easily accommodate to these scalabilities without incurring irrational expenses or fuss.

Rejecting a TOS with comprehensive functionalities conform to the narrow mindset that limits future opportunities and paves a broader stream for operations becoming obsolete or ineffective. Instead, terminal operators should take prudence and care when selecting a TOS such that it adheres to these following elements:

• Scalable – easily add memory and various modules such as Tự động hóa, Trí tuệ nhân tạo (AI), Optimization, etc. when terminals encounter a change in objectives or respectively experience higher throughput and growth
• Linh hoạt – an open TOS system that can interface with any third-party systems such as Gate Operating Systems (GOS), DGPS, automated CHEs, etc. to support automation, business intelligence, and IoT strategies
• Future proofed – avoid TOS’s which integrate just enough functionalities to satisfy current needs as it may be lacking in capabilities due to poor and redundant infrastructure. Seek for a TOS that has all-inclusive functions that accounts for every possible container operation on the spectrum to increase efficiency and limit unproductivity
• Cost-effective – the pool of TOS’s that can concurrently perform exceptionally, offer various and comprehensive functionalities, and provide services at a low price is extremely limited and difficult to discover in the market. Terminal operators should, therefore, consider adopting a true cloud-based TOS to leverage all these benefits without compromising their financial resources

The overarching inference warrants that a terminal operating system in the cloud is the most viable choice as it encompasses all factors ranging from scalability in functionalities to the most imperative; future proofing. When a TOS has purely manifested a cloud architecture, it is embedded with the capabilities to integrate any additional modules and ingest data in any manner which alleviates the need to adopt other external systems and data sources to operate. Any sentiments challenging this conception is a direct indication that the proclaimed cloud TOS is built on a forged infrastructure which is resource intensive and consequently cannot afford adhering to a pay-as-you-go model to offering cost-effective prices.

Although it may not be critical to the operations now, does not excuse it from being crucial for the future. Limit the pool of providers and instill a reliable web-based TOS that truly cares about your future. Never settle for less and find a TOS provider that is committed to your success.

Saigon New Port (SNP) terminals had reported a record-breaking container throughput for 2018. The container throughput for 2018 was with 7.5 Million TEUs, which gives SNP terminals an annual average growth of 13.28% per year. The significant increase of 1.6M TEUs to well over 7.5M TEUS last year with a current daily gate operation exceeding 17,000 trucks in/out of the terminal has made SNP the largest container terminal operator in Vietnam. The import-export container throughput of SNP has accounted for more than 90% of the market share in Ho Chi Minh City area and nearly 50% Vietnam wide.

For more than ten years, SNP is a customer of RBS, running the RBS TOPS solution. Congratulations to SNP on achieving such a grand breakthrough in 2018 and we are glad you have chosen RBS as your TOS to power your terminal.