Internet will become the medium for truckers and cargo owners

Automation is clearly the way forward for all ports, and Transnet Port Terminals has made significant progress to end the paper trail. At Pier 1 truckers are already booking their containers via the internet. “We have set up a truck appointment system where truckers will in future come to the terminal either to pick up or drop off a box on an appointment basis,” says TPT CE Tau Morwe. “But we also need to be aware that as a country we have high levels of unemployment so we won’t replace employees with automated systems. “From a management information systems point of view, however, we will move to a stage where truckers and cargo owners can do everything from the internet. Even the terminal itself would have intelligence systems to assist employees in carrying out their functions.”