The eThekwini Municipality is leading the way in creating an electronic platform to connect transporters and traffic authorities in a system that will share information and become part of Transnet’s planned digital integrated port community. Aurecon service line leader Michael Van Tonder told delegates at the recent Transport Forum in Durban that the firm was in the process of auditing several official information systems with the aim of creating a single digital information sharing platform that would ultimately be able to track cargo, among other features. “The whole idea is to do an audit of all the systems of all the different role players – Transnet, the city, SAPS, Disaster Management, Metro Police and information databases like eNatis which has information on types of vehicle and carrying capacity,” he said. “Some of the information will be extracted into a cloud-hosted database. Some role-players will have access to all information and others will have access to some of the information. The whole process of integration is about open and free sharing of information,” he said. “RTI will be one of those that will be allowed to go into the system and find out what category of cargo is in a container.” Van Tonder said he would be liaising closely with Transnet which is working on an integrated port community system that would include port stakeholders such as shipping lines, government agencies and officials, freight forwarders
and transporters. He said the initiative would lead to a single digital platform for the port and the city. The system would allow cargo owners to track containers anywhere in the world using the system which would employ blockchain technology. Van Tonder said the firm had a six-month time frame to do an audit of databases currently available to establish how and where information was stored and disseminated, whether paper based or electronically. “We would then get a systems architect to capture the information into a database and integrate it into an integration platform where it will be processed and put into a front end where anyone can access the information,” he said. Van Tonder said it was unclear at this stage what form the database would take and whether it would be an app or on a desktop format. Transnet acting senior manager: enterprise architecture and strategy, Kavashnie Govender, said the SOE was working on developing an integrated port community system which provided a single window
for the secure exchange of information between key public and private stakeholders. “The benefits are that it is an optimised seamless process that we are all complying with and that we all understand on a transparent basis. Duplication of information will be no more.” She said the system would give the country a global competitive advantage. “Integrated port communities are the most advanced method in terms of information sharing and this is where we should be heading in South Africa.” Among the areas Transnet is investigating for the system is the tracking of containers globally, the processes in its services, truck driver management and traffic flow management. Govender said eThekwini municipality would work with the SOE so that the system would not be developed disparately. The system would allow cargo owners to track containers anywhere in the world. “ – Michael Van Tonder
