Making an entrance

To cater for future throughput growth and tackle security breaches, two of Africa's key container ports have turned to automation to boost gate systems efficiency. But the hope is that these new systems will bring even more to the table with the delivery of a safer and more secure working environment.

At Apapa Container Terminal, the largest in West Africa, a team of engineers headed by William Ross is developing a new, automated gate on behalf of APM Terminals.

The main driver is a need to enhance security, given that several containers have actually been driven out of the terminal in the past despite not having appropriate clearance from either the terminal or customs authorities. However, terminal management is also mindful that Nigeria's container traffic is estimated to grow by approximately 10%–15% over the next few years. Without automation throughput growth at the terminal, which amounted to 435,000 teu last year, could be stunted.

“An automated gate will additionally enable us to open up more truck lanes. At present, we have three inbound and four outbound lanes, but all have to be staffed. Sometimes, there aren't enough customs officials on site, so, perhaps, just two or three inbound lanes operate,” Mr Ross says, pointing out that the current large amount of paperwork required also limits throughput.

However, even with a much more automated system, the level of bureaucracy in Nigeria – which also results in high levels of corruption - will mean that some extra checks will still have to be made.

In future, optical character recognition technology will be used to identify containers entering and exiting the terminal, while an application known as “Match Maker” will identify external trucks, whose drivers will also have to submit to a biometric scan to verify their own identity. All registered trucks will be issued with bar code stickers, which will be fixed above the cab. Whenever a truck enters the gate system, this bar code will be read and matched with information obtained by the OCR about the container itself. This is then made known to the TOS through the automated gate system software.

The interesting twist at Apapa is that this matching process effectively takes place at a pre-gate stage. Actually crossing into the terminal requires pre-registered drivers to undertake fingerprint validation at an inbound kiosk. This is because acceptance of loads has to be cleared in advance of any container arriving at the port and a specific driver allocated to it. Furthermore, containers are also given an appointment time to arrive at the terminal. When the system is happy that load, truck and driver are legitimate, it prints out a routing slip.

If no appointment can be found, the truck will be placed in a queuing system for the next available slot by a clerk using a handset. This manual processing will also occur if there is a bad OCR read.

“All inbound boxes will also be subjected to a comprehensive visual check, involving 128 separate photographs being taken. A random sampling of these is undertaken by one of two clerks to see whether there is any damage to the container at the top, or on the bottom, sides or back. If there is a seal present, this can also be checked,” says Mr Ross.

He explains that Nigerian courts consider electronic information as being inadmissible, so these types of manual check have to be undertaken. Part of this is down to the fact that goods-in-transit insurance is carried by the clearing agent or freight forwarder and not by the trucking company, as it is in many European and North American countries.

Outbound checks will also take place, although lanes will not be manned, so this part of the system will be totally automated.

“There is definitely an ROI case to be made for the new gate system, since clearance should be faster and capacity on the gate higher. There are nevertheless a number of things outside our control that may not still operate optimally,” says Mr Ross, who notes that some Match Maker stickers issued last August have already been mistakenly painted over. He hopes more care will be taken of these once the system is up and running.

Worries also exist as to how accurate fingerprint readers may turn out to be, despite the fact that the model chosen has been sourced from the US National Bureau of Investigation and is claimed to produce good results even with greasy fingers. Should there be a high failure rate, a card containing the biometric may be substituted instead.

Durban's automated gate system also incorporates OCR to obtain container information, but uses radio-frquency ID cards to identify the trucks. In addition, there is in-lane swiping both at the ITZ and in the lane where trucks park to get service.

“At Transnet, we have similar gate systems installed at two other terminals, but this is the first straddle carrier terminal where this technology has been deployed. In addition, the interchange and lane kiosks installations are new,” says project manager Mark Wootton.

There is also a truck staging area, which is not automated at this stage and operates as it did previously, i.e. with people manning the truck entrance lanes in the same fashion as a toll-gate booth.

The system as installed is not the end of the development. At the moment, for example, truck-related information is being captured at the pre-gate/staging area using staff working in the lanes. However, in the future, customers will have to pre-advise the terminal of the arrival of export containers. Currently all import releases are already done electronically prior to collection.

Mr Wootton adds that Durban is justifying the gate automation investment primarily on improvements to do with health and safety - fewer people working in and around trucks- but also on gate throughput/capacity increases.

Asked about privacy issues in relation to data capture, Mr Wootton says that because nothing is divulged to external parties and trucks are linked simply to individual RFID tags this is not a factor, especially since no driver biometrics are presently required. Similarly, commercial information remains within the terminal and is only provided to line operators on request in respect of their own containers or transporters.

“We expect around a 98% read rate for the OCR system and overall efficiency will be boosted by quicker gate throughput - of fewer than 30 seconds per vehicle - and more accurate recording of truck/container status via the OCR,” says Mr Wootton.

The system itself incorporates redundancy, while the OCR portals are duplicated on both in and out-gates. Should equipment fail on one lane, there are others lanes that trucks can use.

“We have already experienced a power cut during the operational phase. Contingency plans are in place in case the power cut is extensive so that trucks already in the terminal can be serviced. Other trucks will be kept in the staging area until the power supply has been resumed. Nevertheless, we are busy refining this to look at what we can do or how we can extend the contingency plan to allow the landside operation to continue when power has failed – this includes the provision of backup (generator) power for the auto-gate operation.”