Truckers and Portnet develop solutions A SUDDEN burst of container theft at the Container Terminal in Durban harbour has led to a whole new release procedure being implemented, and plans being devised to electronically lock the doors on criminal gangs in the future.
In a spasm of theft before May 28, ten containers were stolen from the terminal, using immaculately forged documentation, which Portnet investigation later showed to have reproduced the originals almost exactly - down to identical, machine-printed order numbers and booking reference numbers to those allocated to the genuine documents. The only material difference, said Portnet quality assurance and systems manager, Jim Binnie, was a change in the private trucker name. In the past - and at the request of the industry in general - CTOs (container terminal orders) were returned from Portnet to clearing agents, often without the trucking company name being specified. This name was later endorsed on the CTO by the agent (or transport broker) after a trucker had been allocated that consignment for road delivery.
It has been pointed out, however, that this procedure was dangerous, said Binnie, to the extent that the CTO was effectively a blank cheque until it had been endorsed to a trucker. With the sudden spurt in criminal activity, it was immediately apparent that something had to be done to stop further thefts, he added.
The Portnet quick fixwas to suspend import container collection by private truckers at 14:00 on May 28, and to request agents to advise the terminal by fax of the trucking company name for each container for which they had already passed documents. The faxed information permitted the terminal staff to verify the trucking company name from an independent source when the trucker arrived to collect the container, said Binnie.
With this preventative measure in place, private trucker collection was resumed at 16:00 the next day, and an urgent workshop arranged between Portnet and all the other parties - shipping lines, c&f agents, trucking companies and truck brokers - on June 2. At this, we were able to discuss the problem, and develop solutions, said Paul Rayner, m.d. of DTB Cartage and chairman of the Durban Harbour Carriers section of the Kwa Zulu Natal Association of Freight Forwarders.
Identified as short term solutions were: ¥ With immediate effect, the name of the trucking company was to be reflected on CTOs before being presented by the agent for processing; ¥ Private trucker documentation was to be separated from the normal document flow, and each document hand-over verified by signature; ¥ Absolutely no alterations were permitted on private trucker documents. Any changes required the agent to process a new document; ¥ The booking procedure for private truck collections was discontinued; ¥ Portnet was to continue with the manual checking procedure to verify that the trucker collecting the container was the same as specified on the original CTO; ¥ Portnet would, as soon as possible, automate this pre-release check by developing additional computer software.
This electronic alternative leads on to the medium-term solution.
Said Binnie: Portnet will investigate the possibility of allocating a secret pin number to each container when the CTO is passed by the agent. This PIN would be returned to the agent in a specially-designed, tamper-proof, sealed envelope, and the envelope would be presented unopened to the terminal at the time of collection. This is designed to overcome the problem of fraudulent documentation, and is also in-line with the movement towards the EDI (electronic data interchange) method of presenting instructions to the terminal operator. In the longer-term, it was agreed that Portnet should register all vehicle combinations wishing to remove cargo from any port operated by Portnet. The possibility of tagging such vehicles to allow rapid automated identification will also be examined, said Binnie.
