Covid-19 brought many projects and developments around the world to a complete standstill, but at the Port of Maputo it also presented an opportunity to push forward planned automation processes.According to Ana Santiago, CFO of the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC), one of the developments at the port has been in the cargo receiving process.“The Port of Maputo is mostly a transit port, with about 80% of the cargo handled by the MPDC from neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe. The cargo varies but the port handles a lot of chrome ore and ferrochrome,” Santiago explained. “The cargo is sent to the port via road and rail, but the largest volume by far is on road.”Several challenges existed in this shipping process, including stock planning and footprint management, as well as the transparency of the system and processes. “Data processing was manual and the possibility of fraud was quite high. We also had challenges with traffic management and monitoring, not to mention the availability of information in real time for decision mak ing.”To face these challenges several automation and digitalisation projects were conceived, designed and implemented, all by a young Mozambican team of IT developers.“In the process of receiving cargo, for example, we now have a Cargo Booking Request (CBR). This system allows greater control in the request of cargo sending by the customers. Previously the control was done manually based on roles and exchange of emails. The system allows that whenever our customers intend to send a certain cargo, they make a request in the system indicating the type of cargo, the parcel, the quantity, when they intend to send the cargo, and the probable date of shipment,” explained Santiago. “This allows greater monitoring and forecasting of rail traffic. After the customer submits the request, our operations team returns to the customer via the system, that is online, about the acceptance or not of the CBR. The analysis is still done with human intervention, but very soon it will be automated to allow greater speed in the process.”Another area that has been automated at the port is truck arrival notification (TAN). This has been particularly useful in dealing with mining commodities as MPDC does not simply receive trucks that arrive at the port with mineral cargo. Santiago said for the truck to be received and processed, it needed to be notified via the TAN system. After accepting the CBR, the customer sends a list of the trucks in the TAN system in one of three ways – through a web application, where each customer or freight agent can upload the trucks, through SFTP connection, or through WEB API which allows system-to-system connection in real time.“Customers using this option are able to notify us about trucks as soon as they are dispatched from the mine. The TAN allows us to anticipate the number of trucks to be received in a given period, allowing for better planning and allocation of resources – in addition to reducing the errors caused by the manual import of trucks and bringing greater transparency and comfort to our customers,” said Santiago.Due to the cargo reception process now being so automated, it was necessary to also replace the manual registration of truck entrances and exits at the port to allow better control and management of traffic. A new system, currently in its first phase of roll-out, was integrated with the TAN and the weighbridge management system that is now operated remotely.According to Santiago, in order to bring more transparency and visibility and reduce operational risks, fraud and human error, removing operators from the weighbridges to a centralised control room made sense. Weighbridges are now controlled through the use of cameras that view trucks and licence plate recognition cameras. This also allows the port to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its staff.“All the systems above were designed on top of an integrated cargo management system (reception and boarding), known internally as Weighbridge Management System. It is through this system that planning, reception, storage, shipment and stock management are carried out,” said Santiago.The port also introduced electronic tallying of cargo reception and vessel loading through a mobile application using a tablet.In the coming weeks, MPDC is expected to launch another automated process on the marine side, improving booking of vessels and berthing.“We have seen some real benefits at the port – from improved operational efficiency and productivity to real-time decision making – thanks to the availability of information. There has also been an increased level of customer confidence and increased integrity of our data.”Weighbridges are now controlled through the use of cameras that view trucks and licence plate recognition cameras.– Ana Santiago“