PortBIS – A Port Community Business Information System

Commerce Plus is introducing a port community business information system – called PortBIS – to assist maritime supply chain participants access improved information so that more efficient business decisions can be made.

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.

The first instalment of PortBIS will feature vessel information from Sydney Ports, 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, and the ability to receive automated alerts bout containers.

Additional vessel information from Brisbane and Adelaide will be released by the end of March 2010. Fremantle Ports and Port of Melbourne Corporation have agreed to provide vessel arrival and departure information to PortBIS shortly once a software change has been made.

Phase 2 of PortBIS focuses on a national dangerous goods reporting system, the import reporting component of which is live with the Port of Brisbane and Fremantle Ports. The import component is in test with Sydney Ports Corporation. The export reporting component together with the Multi Modal Dangerous Goods form is scheduled for release by March-April 2010.

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 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 Commerce Plus on 1300 552 393.