TPT mobile app raises the communication bar

Transnet Port Terminals
plans to expand its mobile app
beyond its existing container
and truck tracing features
to include additional port
operations systems that will
improve its communications
with port users.
But TPT has assured
port users that its mobile
application, SpotLight, has
been developed to provide
additional value to customers
and not to replace traditional
SMS and email notifications.
TPT ICT department IT
portfolio manager, Adri
Clayton, told transporters at
a workshop briefing at the
Port of Durban last week that
17300 users had downloaded
the app over the past three
months. However, she said the
initial uptake had been slow
as the parastatal had only
marketed the app internally
via email and call centre
communcation with clients
after its launch in July 2016.
“We understand that
communications with our
customers are not always
as visible or as regular as
they want them to be so we
have been working on an
additional channel, besides
SMS, email and the call
centre,” she said.
Clayton added that port
users could currently receive
notifications on the app of
congestion or operational
issues in the ports of
Richards Bay, Cape Town and
Durban’s Pier 1 and 2 – and
all other terminals would
be added in future. TPT
would also later be able to
send personalised messages,
such as notifications to
collect containers, directly
to businesses. Transporters
can view details about
vessels currently working in
terminals and track and trace
containers and trucks within
the port queuing system as
the app pulls data directly
from the Navis system.
Weather conditions, sourced
from weather stations at the
terminals, are also accessible
via the app.
TPT regional manager
for Pier 1 and 2, Thulani
Dlamini, said the app would
help to address congestion
concerns in the port.
“The frustration with
our clients, specifically
the trucking industry, is
when they come through
to staging they really don’t
have visibility of what stage
the vehicle is at. Now this
app says ‘your truck has
been processed’ and you can
actually see how long your
truck has been there. When
you engage with us we have
a common
platform so
there is no
confusion,”
Dlamini said.
According
to TPT
statistics
released to
FTW the
number
of users of
the track
and trace
feature checking on vessels,
containers and trucks
quadrupled in the last three
months of 2016, with 18035
queries in October followed
by 17691 in November and
17796 in December.
Dlamini said containers
represented around 50% of
the port’s business and the
intention was to eventually
extend the app to additional
operations.
“We would like the app
to go as far as breakbulk;
the intention is to extend
it to the GCOS operating
system,” he said.
Durban Harbour
Carriers’ Association
chairman Sue Moodley said
she planned to promote the
app to transporters.
“It is an excellent idea
and there is
also a lot that
can be added.
There is a lot
that TNPA
is doing in
terms of the
measurables
of a truck
from a point
to a point,”
Moodley
said.
“It creates
a lot of transparency for
the transporter in that
he is able to see exactly
where his truck is on the
app and turnaround times
are visible to him. I would
like to see smart port
technology like Hops being
integrated into it where the
vessel and the trucks can
speak to each other and
that is exactly what they are
working on at the moment,”
she said.
INSERT & CAPTION
The transporter is
able to see exactly
where his truck is on
the app.
– Sue Moodley