In early 2009, Santa Marta International Terminal Company (SMITCO), a joint venture between Sociedad Portuaria de Santa Marta and Manzanillo International Terminal - Panama, S.A., formally began operating as a container stevedoring company in the Port of Santa Marta, Colombia’s only natural deep- water port.
In its quest to achieve a modern terminal system, SMITCO sought a full-service, phased solution that would provide complete control and visibility into all aspects of the operation. SMITCO also needed a reliable, experienced technology partner who could deliver all related system implementation services, such as project management, TOS adaptation to the local operating environment, user training, on-site start-up assistance, and ongoing maintenance and support.
The first phase of terminal development, completed by mid-2012, included two post-Panamax ship-to-shore gantry cranes, four rubber-tired gantries (RTGs), and an 8.7-hectare container yard with a capacity of 300,000 TEU per year, expanding to 420,000 TEU in a second phase.
In order to provide the best and most reliable service to its growing customer base, SMITCO required a combination of a proven terminal operating system (TOS) solution and experienced resources that could provide various value-added services to a project that anticipated significant growth.
Tideworks systems have allowed us to grow the business in an orderly manner, as they give us greater visibility into our operations and help us maintain absolute control. That translates into improved customer service, which at the end of the day is what we sell.
One of the key areas where we’ve seen a marked improvement is with respect to billing. Before the introduction of Mainsail and its powerful, full-featured billing module, our terminal handled 30-35,000 moves per year. Now, at a current annual throughput of over 60,000 moves, we are billing more than double the amount we did previously with the same number of people. As our volume grows to a projected 90,000 moves per year, we fully expect to be able to handle the growth without the need to hire more staff.
In order to graphically plan yard and vessel activity, SMITCO selected Tideworks’ Spinnaker Planning Management System® as a stand-alone system during its earliest phases of development. This allowed SMITCO to immediately reap the benefits of a modern terminal system, with minimal investment. After the implementation of Spinnaker, SMITCO witnessed a significant increase in vessel productivity and credited the boost in large part to the deployment of Tideworks’ system.
In late 2009, SMITCO finalized an agreement with Tideworks’ for the implementation of its Mainsail Terminal Management System®, allowing the joint-venture operator the ability to leverage the full capabilities of Tideworks’ terminal operating system to manage inventory, control gate activity, exchange information with customers and stakeholders, improve billing processes, and further boost productivity.
Working seamlessly with resources at Tideworks’ Seattle headquarters and its Panamanian regional office, SMITCO was able to reap the benefits of several value-added services to ensure successful deployment and start-up, while still maintaining service levels during construction.
Through leveraging its vendor relationships, for example, Tideworks was able to procure the required hardware at substantial savings to the terminal operator and fully assist SMITCO with the setup and installation of the hardware at the terminal. By establishing redundant communications links between Seattle, Panama and Colombia as well, Tideworks was able to maintain uninterrupted communication with all involved to assist with implementation, system testing, user training, and ongoing maintenance and support of the TOS post-implementation.
To meet SMITCO requirements and to ensure a smooth transition, Tideworks provided additional customization of Mainsail, specifically the billing module. Additionally, SMITCO superusers received expert software training in a hands-on operational environment at an existing Tideworks installation similar to the SMITCO operation in several aspects.
In addition to the services provided during the implementation, Tideworks continues to deliver SMITCO value-added services in several key areas. First, its team of EDI experts provides SMITCO with full-service EDI management, allowing the terminal to effortlessly exchange messages with its existing customers and quickly bring new customers online. Second, Tideworks helps ensure that the SMITCO system is always up and running at peak performance, from remote system health monitoring to database and OS administration. Lastly, with 24/7 technical support and free software upgrades as part of its “Platinum Maintenance and Support” program, Tideworks provides SMITCO the dependable support it needs wherever and whenever it is required.
The complexity of billing at SMITCO presented some unique challenges for the project implementation. In addition to an extensive and intricate public tariff, SMITCO had approximately 50 private contracts at the time of its Mainsail deployment. Since implementation, this number grew to nearly 80 in 2011. Existing contract terms and rates were easily created in the Mainsail billing module, and new contracts were quickly built using a “copy” option, which allows the terminal to use an existing template or similar contract on which to base a new one.
The Mainsail billing module also provided SMITCO a fast and user-friendly method to combine multiple services with multiple containers in a single invoice.
With foresight and integrated planning, SMITCO was able to quickly ramp up operations for phase one of the project using Tideworks’ solutions. The subsequent deployment of Tideworks’ proven, dependable TOS enabled SMITCO to seamlessly integrate the system and achieve new levels of productivity. Utilizing a phased approach demonstrated Tideworks’ ability to provide a scalable, full- service solution to meet SMITCO’s financial and operational objectives. Despite the complexities of such a large-scale deployment during construction of this growing container terminal, Tideworks’ systems implementation and subsequent and ongoing upgrades caused no interruption in SMITCO operations or service levels, which continued to improve dramatically through when construction was completed.
Even as construction of the first phase of terminal development drew to a close, SMITCO continued looking toward the future and made plans for another phase of technology implementation. The terminal intends to deploy Tideworks’ Traffic ControlTM electronic dispatch system as well as its GateVision® automated gate solutions in a subsequent phase.
Traffic Control will help the operator replace paperwork instructions and excessive radio chatter with the automated transmission of electronic work instructions to container handling equipment, enabling SMITCO to optimize these resources and reduce operating costs. GateVision will streamline the terminal’s gates and reduce trucker turn times, thereby further enhancing customer service levels
Tideworks is the only TOS supplier that is able to provide SMITCO such a broad range of services. This allows us to remain focused on our core business of moving freight through the terminal. With a modern, efficient TOS fully supported by Tideworks, we have been able to enhance customer service and focus our IT staff on local solutions.
Prior to Mainsail, we were generating an average of 2,000-3,000 invoices per month. While our volume has since increased significantly and the dollar amount of our monthly billing has roughly doubled, we are generating about the same number of invoices, thanks to Mainsail’s streamlined billing module and the efficiencies that this has afforded us. Our customers really appreciate the reduced amount of paper invoices they receive.
©2024 Tideworks. Partnering to optimize global logistics with integrity, efficiency, and flexibility.