Local company has big plans for computerised system A DURBAN-based company has revealed plans to develop a computerised tally programme which will ultimately make it possible for clients to access tally records directly.
Robin Harris, joint managing director with David Logan of Cargo & Transport Holdings, which is a specialist service provider to the clearing and forwarding industry and to ships agents, is based in the UK for much of the year and has been visiting a number of software houses in Europe with a view to developing the programme.
Both Harris and Logan believe that the tally industry has tended to be one of the most neglected areas of the shipping industry.
According to them overseas tallying has become a function of the stevedoring system, which they feel is wrong.
In some respects there is a conflict of interest and this should preferably be done by a specialist, says Harris. One of the benefits that can come from this is the vast amount of other information that is made available, he adds. Much of this information can be shared with the client, but under existing systems this is not possible. Logan points out that many of the overseas ports are already up and running with EDI systems and Direct Trader Input. Port users and other role players can access this information with dramatic spin-offs for the indsutry, says Logan.
The focus will be on breakbulk cargoes and containers, and we will be able to offer a complete monitoring service. In August Cargo & Marine Services, the operating division of C&TH, sent its operations manager to Jakarta to supervise the tallying of cargo shipped from South Africa.
He reported a lack of tally systems in that port.
Logan says the new computerised programme will be able to provide a worldwide tally function to overcome this sort of problem.
By Terry Hutson
