Today, information technology has been laying a profound impact on most business sectors, especially in container operations. In Vietnam, SNP was a pioneer in applying state-of-the-art information technology in terminal management and operations.
As early as in 1995s, Saigon Newport Company (now ‘Saigon Newport Corporation’) was endeavoring to develop and apply CMS (Container Management System) in terminal operations. The software had successfully enabled SNP to manage all data in the whole procedure of container handling, delivery and receipt at Tan Cang Terminal and Tan Cang – Cat Lai Terminal.
In June, 2006 SNP was transformed into a holding company with large scale and improved throughput capacity. To catch up with the arising requirements, in early 2007, SNP had chosen VDC (Vietnam Data Communication) and RBS (Realtime Business Solutions) from Australia to implement TOPX (Terminal Operation Package System) worth 3 million USD at Tan Cang – Cat Lai Terminal in June, 2008. With advanced functionalities to enable vessel planning, berth planning, yard planning, gate operations, equipment assignment and overall operations management in real time, TOPX was successfully integrated with CMS to help enhance handling productivity at Tan Cang – Cat Lai Terminal, shorten container delivery/receipt time, enable safety at work and inner terminal traffic circulation, reduce paper work and cost for shipping lines/agents, shippers/consignees and thus, boost terminal operations efficiency.
In addition, SNP continued to develop DGPS (Digital Global Positioning System) to automatically specify and update container position on RTG 6 1 and studied to develop automatic container recognition to enhance gate operations. Up to now, TOPX and DGPS have been further launched at Tan Cang – Cai Mep Container Terminal in Tan Thanh District, Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province, depot 9 inside Tan Cang – Cat Lai Terminal and will soon operate at Tan Cang – Cai Mep International Terminal, phase 2 of Tan Cang – Cai Mep Deepsea Terminal Project. Among other terminal operation systems throughout Vietnam, TOPX is now deemed the most advanced and suitable for container terminals in the country.
In the coming time, SNP will endeavor to get connected with IT system of customs office, shipping lines/agents and shippers/consignees to enable prompt and accurate data interchange and will gradually deploy remote container delivery/receipt procedure, payment via banks and develop e-clearance. With TOPX, SNP has taken the lead in successfully applying computerized technology in large-scale terminal operations and as such continues to be a dominant player in container terminal operations in Vietnam.
