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HIT is vigorously responding
to future challenges with an increasingly proactive customer-services
focus and an e-mentality.
We have been actively developing service-enhancing
initiatives to deliver real and direct benefits to our customers.
Key projects have included:
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The wait is finally over! nGen
has arrived. Our completely redesigned terminal
management system has gone live at Hongkong International
Terminals (HIT) on 16th February 2005.
The brand new nGen system replaces
our award-winning 3P Terminal Management System that
has served us faithfully for more than eight years.
nGen, in short for Next Generation Terminal Management
System, is a complete rewrite using much enhanced process
logics and the latest open computer technologies. With
the implementation of nGen, the system controls the
entire scope of terminal operations from ship and yard
planning, gate operations, vessel operations and interactions,
yard configuration and performance, overall operations
monitoring, equipment utilisation, productivity to costs
optimisation. With extensive operational experience
and powerful algorithms embedded in many different operating
environments, nGen is able to offer the best automated
operating solution to our customers.
nGen is the first major system co-development
project between Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) and Yantian International Container
Terminals (YICT). Harnessing our best expertise since
day one, a diverse cross-terminal project team from
Terminal Operations, Operations Development & Technology was pulled together to make nGen a reality.
The project team set a simple yet significant objective
for itself to develop a scalable, functional, and reliable
system that is better than any commercially available
terminal operation platform for South China Division
of Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) and its subsidiaries
throughout the world.
This massive joint development effort
has already proven itself when nGen went live at YICT
in 2003. Additionally, HIT and YICT have collectively
laid a robust collaboration platform for all future
nGen launches to other HPH ports.
There are many new and unique features
in nGen, some of which include scalability, real-time
operator alerts, and configurable business rules.
Using industry standard open platform
technologies such as Java and XML, nGen is truly scalable
across all non-proprietary computer system hardware.
From a small feeder terminal operation requiring a small-scale
server setup to large hub ports relying on full server
room support, nGen has been designed to support all
platforms.
With real-time operator alerts,
each control staff can customise more than a dozen automated
alerts to suit different situations. These alerts not
only allow the operators to take appropriate actions
at appropriate times, but also relieve on-the-job pressure.
Operators today don't need to constantly stare at the
computer screen anymore to look for problem areas!
Finally, nGen has over one hundred
user-definable business rules that can be fine-tuned.
For example, an operator can adjust the laden box grounding
and internal tractor deployment rules to meet customers'
specific operating requirements. No more reprogramming
and compiling, as nGen now adapts effortlessly.
nGen truly lives out our motto
of doing more with less. With nGen, HIT and YICT are
well positioned to meet increasing throughput and productivity
requirements into the next decade and beyond. With scalability
in mind, we have designed nGen to work in all HPH ports
around the globe.
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| The Tractor Appointment System is
HIT's innovative scheduling system for collecting
inbound, loaded containers. It has helped meet the
needs of customers by:
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handling a higher
number of tractors without delay |
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increasing productivity by
keeping tractors picking up cargo away from discharging
areas |
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ensuring rapid turnaround
for ships and tractors |
The appointment system is a key part
of HIT's gate automation process.
It also works in tandem with HIT's Terminal
Management System that ensures containers are efficiently
stacked in the yard. Containers ready to for collection
are always at the top of the stack, making pick-up
quick and easy.
HIT is open 24 hours every day. No appointments
are required between 21:00 and 07:00 next day, or
on Sundays or statutory holidays. Companies seeking
appointments contact HIT beforehand. The system is
unique in allowing companies to contact HIT either
by tone-dial phone or via PC using the Customer Plus
offering on-line exchange of data.
HIT's pioneering Tractor Appointment
System enhances cost efficiency and customer service,
ensuring rapid turnaround for both ships and tractors.
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| Four systems are involved:
Operations Monitoring System (OMS)
OMS helps HIT staff visualise information
on terminal operations and container stacking through
a graphic representation. Overviews cover the entire
container yard down to details of an individual container.
The system can predict yard congestion so operators
can take pre-emptive action.
Ship Planning System (Guider)
Guider delivers optimal sequences for
discharging and loading vessels, ensuring ship stability
and efficient operations. Computers hold a library
of every vessel berthing at the terminal. The system
generates pier-side instructions to yard operators.
Radio Data System (RDS)
RDS uses radio channels and remote terminals
to provide detailed information on yard operations
and container movements. RDS acts as the eyes and
ears to the main computer system nGen. Terminals include
computers mounted in the cabins of each Rubber-Tyred
Gantry Crane and hand-held computers carried by operators
and supervisors in the yards and on the quayside.
Paging
Private paging is used by internal tractors
serving the vessel and marshalling operations. Pagers
despatch precise movement instructions to the tractor
drivers on a real-time basis. |
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Container yard activities are planned,
co-ordinated and monitored automatically. HIT reduces
the time vessels spend at berth, saves tractor turnaround
time in the terminal, and provides flexibility in
handling customers' special requirements. The computer
system maintains detailed information on each container
and provides a variety of enquiry, reporting and analysis
facilities to assist in management of container inventory.
A special feature of the system is a
yard map that contains the exact location of each
of up to 90,000 TEUs in the terminal at any one time.
The system links to the Customer Plus
and Gate Automation. |
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HIT was the first Hong Kong container
terminal operator to introduce the bar-code-based
BID. It brings major benefits to the fast-growing
barge traffic at HIT terminals.
When a barge arrives, our quayside staffs
simply ask the responsible crew member for the vessel's
barge ID card and use a handheld terminal to scan
the information. This quick and easy system verifies
the identity of a vessel with the Barge Registration
Centre using bar-coding instead of the former manual
process.
BID has streamlined barge movements
and enhanced customer service. It also strengthens
terminal security and provides a platform for extending
EDI links between barge operators and HIT.
In an average month, HIT handles more
than 2,500 barges servicing the Pearl River Delta
with a volume of 38,000 boxes. |
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HIT and mobile phone brand Orange
teamed up to offer this groundbreaking system. Mobile
Terminal Message - also known as Mobile Container
Movement Slip (CMS) service - uses mobile phones to
deliver all the data needed to identify the location
of a container in the yard, covering the container
number, block and stack number.
The service cuts waiting time for truck drivers as
they no longer have to collect notification of container
locations at HIT's on-site Despatch Office, which
issues Container Movement Slips.
Mobile Terminal Message is helping to relieve congestion
in the container yard. As well as getting CMS messages
in the comfort of their own vehicles, tractor drivers
also get special information, such as operational
arrangements due to typhoons, well before arriving
at the HIT gate.
Since the middle of 2004, truck drivers have been able
to obtain their Container Movement Slip (CMS) via voicemail.
This value-added service is available in three languages;
Cantonese, Mandarin and English, and supports all mobile
phone operators without incurring additional costs to
our customers. Up to January 2005, more than 50% of
drivers were able to receive their CMS through this
service, allowing for a seamless delivery of service
in an environmentally-friendly workspace. |
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A key strategy throughout
the company is a shift in emphasis from a terminal-operations
focus to a customer-services focus. This entails proactively
helping customers to leverage information and improve their
operations.
Two good examples of this policy are Customer
Plus and One-Stop-Port. Each of these
used the Internet to open HIT's central repository of information
to the benefit of customers, removing the need to pass paper
back and forth.
This move to share an increasing amount of information
with customers on the Internet reflects HIT's e-mentality.
HIT is sharing an increasing amount of information on the
Internet. This is meeting the service requirements of customers.
HIT's Operations Development & Technology Department that leads
the IT initiatives deploys support and resources not only
to Operations, but also to Commercial as well as Finance &
Administration.
HIT is mapping differently. The key for a successful
container terminal operator is fast and accurate exchange
of information. HIT has already developed a seamless network
of computerized information systems - many of them integral
parts of the nGen Terminal Management System that directs
the movement of every container within the yard.
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Find out more.
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The land opposite HIT Terminals 4,
6 and 7 is the site of CT9. HIT is set to take possession
of berth 1 in 2003 and berth 6 in 2004. Together,
these will add another 700 metres to HIT's berth
length and boost stacking capacity by some 15,500
TEUs. CT9 will add an annual throughput capacity
of 1.2 million TEUs to HIT's current capacity of
over 6 million TEUs at its Kwai Chung facilities.
The industry regards HIT's existing
terminals as models of efficiency and productivity.
CT9 is therefore an excellent opportunity to embrace
new - but proven - technology to enhance HIT's already
high standards of service and productivity.
And since HIT is targeting a sustained
Quay Crane operating rate of 30 moves per hour (mph),
advanced equipment, optimal processes, and smart
IT systems are all critical components of the CT9
project. At CT9, HIT is focusing on design and implementation
of a number of technologies:
Super Post-Panamax Quay Cranes
These will be the workhorses at CT9.
With 60-tonne twinlift capability and advanced control
systems, the advanced Super Post Panamax Quay Cranes
will support the new 22-row storage width of post
Panamax mega container vessels coming into service
now.
1-over-6 Rubber-Tyred Gantry Cranes
An Automated Gantry Steering System
will steer the crane automatically in the direction
of the gantry and a Position Determining System
will record the positions of containers.
Advanced Gatehouse
The design will feature reversible
IN and OUT lanes and a number of camera.
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HIT's innovative laser-based detection
system prevents inadvertent lifts of a customer's
truck due to locked or jammed trailer twist-locks.
The Anti Truck Lifting Protection
System (ATLS) automatically stops a crane's hoist
motion if it detects the presence of a chassis after
lifting has commenced.
The system uses two optical sensors
mounted at a height of 1.7 metres on the crane leg
facing the truck lane. Software input consisted
of modifying spreader height memory and the main
hoist lift interlock in the crane controls.
The sensors simply measure the distance
from the crane to the container. When the container
has been lifted to a pre-set distance, the measurement
is repeated.
In a successful lift, the sensor penetrates
thin air as the container freely rises. But when
the container is still attached to the chassis,
the sensor detects the chassis and automatically
stops the hoist motion.
Inadvertent truck lifts are rare but
this safety system is still needed. Increased personal
safety also means reduced downtime and improved
efficiency and productivity.
This is an industry first in Hong
Kong and HIT is sharing its technology with sister
ports. And following the successful completion of
a six-month trial, HIT entered the ATLS in Hong
Kong's Occupational Safety and Health Council's
"Enhancement Forum". HIT won the
Gold Award - the highest possible.
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These will be the workhorses at CT9.
With 60-tonne twinlift capability and advanced control
systems, the advanced Super Post Panamax Quay Cranes
will support the new 22-row storage width of post
Panamax mega container vessels coming into service
now.
1-over-6 Rubber-Tyred Gantry Cranes
An Automated Gantry Steering System
will steer the crane automatically in the direction
of the gantry and a Position Determining System
will record the positions of containers.
Advanced Gatehouse
The design will feature reversible
IN and OUT lanes and a number of camera.
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Underlining HIT's commitment to enhancing
service to shipping lines and their customers, One-Stop-Port
(OSP) is HIT's Internet-based container tracking
solution for the Pearl River Delta Region.
OSP provides shipping lines and feeder
operators with information that makes it far easier
to follow cargoes and control equipment inventory
throughout the Pearl River Delta region. This increases
HIT's ability to service its prime cargo hinterland.
OSP commenced operations in September
2,000 and connects shipping lines and feeder operators
to HIT and Hutchison Delta Ports at Zhuhai, Jiangmen
and Nanhai.
The OSP system is fully secure because
it operates as a closed community, available only
to qualified users - shipping lines, shippers, agents
or port operators - who must be registered to access
the system at www.onestopport.com.
Under OSP, once an authorized booking
is fed into the system, shipping lines can track
containers and confirm they have arrived at a delta
port or have been transported via barge to HIT for
loading onto an oceangoing vessel for shipment to
anywhere in the world.
Currently, many feeder operators rely
upon paper-based information systems which can lead
to inefficiency and errors. OSP creates an electronic
environment in which all parties, including feeder
operators, terminals, barge operators, depots and
shipping lines can exchange information and deploy
resources with a high degree of efficiency.
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The power of knowledge is a critical
element in HIT's development. The capability to
share information across a spectrum of areas is
a powerful tool.
HIT is capitalizing on internal knowledge
assets through knowledge management - or KM. The
web-based environment for increased team collaboration
is helping to improve competitiveness, accelerate
innovation, reduce costs and integrate new businesses.
On top of it, it has enabled the aggregation and
dissemination of information throughout HIT.
HIT is sharing knowledge throughout
the company to help people work more productively.
By pooling individual knowledge assets in a central
repository, HIT has created a key knowledge resource.
The HIT Knowledge Portal is a virtual workplace
for discussion and resource -sharing on any project
or business requirement and interaction on-line.
In 2003, Internet access to HIT Knowledge
Portal is made available. HPH staff from all over
the world can access the system via Internet for
knowledge sharing and retrieval. Understanding knowledge
is our valuable property and a secure KM platform
is crucial, date encryption and user authentication
technologies are applied to prevent malicious attack.
Data privacy and strong user identity authentication
can be enforced to achieve secure point-to-point
access to knowledge system over public or private
network.
With full extension to other HPH ports,
KM will facilitate discussions across time zones
through secure Internet or Intranet connections.
Files and other documents can be moved and read
securely. The system holds interim drafts of discussion
documents, keeping all project team members in the
loop. Newcomers can also easily catch up with a
chain of events.
KM applications will cover terminal
and crane design, capacity planning, work procedures,
terminal and corporate systems, shipping line requirements
and even contractual and regulatory issues. KM system
is now playing an ever increasing role in the lives
of HPH Group staff.
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A family of simulated models is giving
HIT a new competitive edge by allowing it to examine
how the terminal reacts to any proposed changes.
By identifying potential benefits, as well as revealing
disadvantages, the simulations are helping to ensure
that any new practices, systems or technology are
properly integrated and optimized.
HIT's container terminal simulation
focuses on five key areas: equipment handling rates,
vessel operating rates, tractor turnaround times,
yard grounding characteristics, and resource utilization
levels.
HIT's early simulation work in 1993
studied gate processes, yard crane deployment, and
yard traffic.
Improved software later led to more
comprehensive simulation models. The 1998 third-generation
yard model, for example, added quayside activities
such as loading and unloading sequences, vessel
schedules and vessel profiles. The major features
of HIT's nGen Terminal Management
System-container grounding strategy, crane movement
scheduling, shuffling strategies, outbound grounding
buffers and truck moves - were also incorporated.
HIT has shared the benefits of its
simulation work with other HPH ports - the Port
of Felixstowe, Shanghai Container Terminals, Jakarta
International Container Terminals and Yantian International
Container Terminals - in a move to enhance port
design and system development.
In year 2002, HIT has submitted one
of its computer simulation models - Yard Model 3
(YM3) to participate the Third Annual Intelligent20
Awards Competition held by Intelligent Enterprise
Asia Magazine. HIT has been selected as one of the
winners of the Award in deployment of Information
Technology.
There are totally 20 companies being
selected for the Award. All these companies have
been identified as successful in deployment of Information
Technology to bring benefits to the organization.
There are four main performance indicators to be
considered in the selection, namely: Customer Satisfaction,
Product/Service Quality Assurance, Return on Investment
in Technology, and Innovation.
More information about the Award can
be found in www.intelligentasia.com.
3D Animation
Another of the many tools we use to
enhance understanding and visualization of complex
container port operations is 3D Animation
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Always striving for operational excellence,
HIT has initiated a new program to revamp the checkpoint
system at our gatehouse, with the main objective
to raise the standard of our services. The average
turnaround time clocked is 41-minute in the first
quarter 2005, which shows a significant improvement
quarter-on quarter. Although this performance is
above our target, we will continue to seek further
improvements. We have specially set up a team to
study and test our system applications, and our
checkpoint machines at the entry gate. The main
purpose of this exercise is to enable entry tickets
to be more accessible to drivers, which will reduce
waiting time at the entry gate. Upon completion,
truck drivers will be able to enter HIT premises
in an even shorter period of time.
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To continuously improve our barge
services, we have dedicated the N6 yard block to
be used solely as a buffer zone for the loading
and unloading for our barge operations. This new
buffer zone helps to speed up our barge operations,
increases our productivity and most importantly,
shortens barge waiting time. To further improve
in this area, we have implemented a single berthing
concept for barges under Phase I of this development.
We will conduct further studies on our available
resources to seek continued enhancements to this
single berthing service. With this latest practice
in place, we will be able to offer better and more
efficient services to our customers as their trade
increases.
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This new and sophisticated digital
technology helps to improve message signal quality,
enhance voice traffic volume, and transmit short
digital data messages at HIT Terminal 9. The system
has been installed with the aim to improve internal
communications and to boost terminal productivity.
TETRA is an open digital Terrestrial Trunked Radio
system, which is widely used in many mission-critical
organisations in Hong Kong such as the Hong Kong
Police and the China Light & Power Company. The
TETRA system was fully operational at the end of
May 2005.
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With the aim of improving productivity
and developing value-added services to our customers,
HIT has set up an in-house RFID lab to study and
field-test the performance of RFID devices within
the container terminal environment. Information
gathered on the "read range", "read rate," and "reliability
data" helps to determine the performance levels
of the RFID devices and applications in our environment,
and also to identify potential issues as a result
of deploying such devices.
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In order to help our customers to
improve the efficiency of their payment processing
workflow, HIT introduced eBilling back in August
2000. Instead of receiving paper invoices, customers
can now request electronic invoices. Invoice data
can then be imported into their payment processing
system, minimising manual inputs. Also, detailed
transaction data is available for automated verification
with their internal records.
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MOVINS stands for MOVEMENT INSTRUCTION.
With the implementation of this electronic platform,
the resources involved in pre-plan operations are
notably reduced and lead time for stowage plans
are shortened. Furthermore, it allows shipping lines
to receive updated outbound planning information
from terminals much earlier for stowage verification.
The MOVINS stowage instruction transmits information
on loading, discharging, shifting and re-stowing
activities between the terminal operator and shipping
lines electronically. The implementation of this
platform allows both shipping lines and terminals
to react much faster to the rapidly-changing and
complex operational environment. The "MOVINS" technology
has been successfully implemented with a number
of our valuable customers.
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