Port Authority renews technology contracts
Published:Sunday | April 24, 2011 | 12:00 AM
The Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) says it has renewed contracts with two information technology firms and has purchased new ship and container tracking software in anticipation of increased cargo throughput related to ongoing expansion of the Panama Canal.
The Port Authority has signed a new three-year agreement with United States-based Oracle Corporation for access to the Oracle Financial Database up to year 2014. It also has a new arrangement with Belgian company Cosmos NV for access to the Cosmos Terminal Operating System.
Closer to home, it will continue to utilise the Kingston-based Port Computer Services' AS/400 hosting facilities.
The three contracts are valued at a combined US$3.03million (J$266 million).
Use of the Oracle financial application - comprising general ledger, accounts receivables, payables, fixed assets register, and cash-management features - will cost the Port Authority J$16.58 million (US$190,024) over the three years. The fees are paid annually.
Consolidation of information
The application allows consolidation of information across different entities, which PAJ assistant vice-president for public relations, Andrea Whyte, says include the Port Authority of Jamaica, Kingston Container Terminal, the Kingston Free Zone, the Montego Bay Free Zone, and Ports Management and Security Limited.
It is also being used for tracking outstanding balances, and generating reports in multiple currency units.
The Cosmos three-year contract, valued at J$43.3million (US$496,465) and payable in monthly and quarterly tranches, is used to cut down on ship turnaround and container-stripping time at the port.
Cosmos modules include a container terminal control system, which controls and integrates the functions of ships, space, and port traffic, and controls the movement of all containers in and out of the terminal gates; the Contract Registration and Billing System, through which shipping lines are invoiced for container movements, storage, electricity for refrigerated containers, vessel handling, and stevedoring charges; and the Signal 5.0 module, which automatically handles the transmission and reception of electronic data interchange, or EDI messages, between the terminal and shipping lines and their agents prior to the arrival and departure of container ships. The EDI messages pertain to the port of origin, transshipment points and destination, the location of the containers on the ships, and contents of containers.
Port Computer Services (PCS) owns the AS/400 computers that host the Cosmos system.
Technical support
Additionally, PCS provides technical support for Cosmos and other systems on behalf of the PAJ. The total value of its contract is J$206 million (US$2.36 million), payable in monthly tranches.
The contract includes two AS/400 computers and accompanying software and utility packages - one for the operational environment, and the other for off-site back-up for disaster recovery; a specialised computer room that is manned 24 hours per day and 365 days per year by a technical team; and off-site replication and back-up facilities, among other equipment.
The PCS system handles payroll, statistical data, and pilotage and harbour fees, which are referred to as specialised receivable systems.
Within the last half-decade, the Port Authority has positioned itself as the pre-eminent container transshipment terminal in the Caribbean to leverage business from the trade between China and North America, and increasingly, other areas of the western hemisphere.
Wilburn Pottinger, PAJ's vice-president for information systems, said Wednesday that technology enhancements would increase Jamaica's international competitiveness in the port and shipping industry.
Kingston, the primary port of call for cargo vessels, processes more than 2,200 ships per year, according to the most recent annual data ending March 2010.