Phase two of a three-phase operation to improve the organisation and utilisation of SA's ports was completed this month with the introduction of the Corebis billing system.
The integrated invoicing system, purchased from Belgium, follows the implementation of the Cosmos operations system in South African ports during 1999.
The implementation of the Corebis system means that each shipping line will get a consolidated invoice for all the containers under its control on each ship within two days of the ship having completed its operations.
Logan Naidoo, an executive manager at South African Port Operations (SAPO), says the invoice will also be more accurate because the information will be extracted directly from SAPO's computer system.
Once verified, invoices will be electronically submitted to the relevant shipping line as well as inserted directly into SAPO's financial systems. Naidoo says the Corebis system will eradicate the duplication of data previously captured into two separate computer systems.
The third phase of the operation will be a Web portal for the existing Cosmos and Corebis systems which will allow shipping clients to track containers over the Internet. The Web portal system will be developed locally by Transnet-owned B2BAfrica and is due for completion in July.
SAPO CEO Tau Morwe says the Corebis Billing System is one of the ways in which SAPO aims to ensure the "realisation of its goal of becoming the preferred logistics business partner of choice to its new and existing clients by creating expediency in SAPO's billing processes".
The Cosmos system, which was introduced to South African ports more than two years ago, is used to optimise the stacking, storage and transportation of containers. Naidoo explains that since the introduction of Cosmos "there has been a significant increase in the utilisation of container stacking areas".
He adds that before Cosmos, average utilisation of container stacks stood at around 40%, while current stack utilisation stands at between 55% and 70%. Similarly, container handling abilities have increased from around 55 000 to more than 65 000 containers a month.
The three-phase port handling system upgrade has cost R50 million to date.
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