VEHICLE BOOKING SYSTEM OPERATION
VBS TAKES THE FAST LANE Vehicle Booking Systems (VBS) deployment, bolstered by meeting the challenges of the pandemic, is growing fast. Mike Mundy charts the rise of VBS based on a PS sector survey The pandemic has proved a catalyst to the take-up of Vehicle Booking Systems (VBS) according to a recent survey undertaken by Port Strategy. The bandwagon of utilisation of digitised truck appointment systems for container drop off/pick up at container and other marine terminals had already been gaining significant momentum in recent years but the Pandemic has applied added velocity to this. In diverse locations around the globe, the pandemic has effectively increased the scope for the adverse conditions that VBS are, at heart, configured to ameliorate – truck congestion at the terminal gate and on the approach roads to terminals, the negative impact of peaks in volumes on terminal operations overall and the uncoordinated and thus inefficient interaction between terminals’ container hauliers and their respective clients. VBS, operating as an integral component of a terminal’s IT architecture, have proven to be highly influential in scaling down what would otherwise have been labelled ‘chaotic operations.’ Above all others, the one thing that VBS offers is ‘regulation of traffic flow’ – which, experience records, delivers real benefits in terms of the ‘micro’ situation around a terminal and in a macro context all along the supply chain. UNCTAD in its recent report COVID-19 and Maritime Transport: Impact and Responses, commenting on experience in the pandemic confirms the benefits of the enhanced attention paid to truck and rail car access by terminal operators: “Of note,” says the report, “is the improved programming by port operators of the loading and unloading operations involving trucks and rail cars…” BAROMETERS OF INFLUENCE A measure of the increasing value of VBS, is the adoption of the system geographically. Notable in this respect is the recent announcement by South Africa’s Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) of the introduction of a mandatory truck booking system at its Cape Town Container Terminal and Cape Town Multipurpose terminal. The digitalised system enables transporters to book delivery slots 48 hours in advance or cancel a booking within two hours prior to the time slot. VBS systems, now in operation for over two decades, have progressively been taken up around the world. The latest Transnet deployment sees the system build its influence in Africa. Prior to this there has been progressive take-up in Australasia, Asia, the Americas and Europe. It is true to say, the PS survey concludes, that today VBS is a ‘go to’ or ‘must have’ system in the context of modern container terminal operations. Demand generates supplier response, and the PS survey notes that more system suppliers crowding into the marketplace further underpins the market belief in the merit of VBS. A recognised pioneer in the field, is 1-Stop VBS, active for around two decades, but today it faces competition from companies such as: Camco Technologies; DSP, Navis, Visy Oy and diverse others. Their entrance into the sector, PS suggests, will drive system innovation and further accelerate system take-up on a basis comparable to the adoption of Terminal Operating Systems (TOS) or Port Community Systems (PCS), with which VBS is designed to interact.
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TODAY’S REALITIES There is always resistance to change with the introduction of digitalised systems versus a previous manual system or no system at all. Today’s realities are, concludes PS, that with VBS this simply represents ‘standing in the way of progress.’ The primary operational benefits of VBS are highlighted above – they clearly outmatch any manual system but there are also wider benefits. One is security, the move to a digitalised system is inherently more secure. Also positive is the added dimension VBS gives to capacity management – macro and micro. Another big plus is sustainability and the experience of Antwerp Gateway Terminal (AGT), a DP World facility, in this respect is instructive. With the deployment of the terminal’s QLess VBS, AGT was able to report the elimination of 730,000 kilograms of CO2 annually. AGT was the first terminal in DP World’s portfolio to operate automated stacking cranes. More than 65 per cent of all containers loaded or discharged from deep sea vessels typically arrive or leave by truck. In conclusion, the PS survey emphasises the wider benefits available from VBS – along the supply chain. The key trucker sector offers a prime example, including: greater certainty of container pick-up and drop-off times; reduced truck cycle times, the ability to increase the number of truck cycles and as result to achieve better fleet management and overall return on investment. Like any new generation system VBS has its growing pains, but experience to-date confirms the system’s broad-based benefits and status of being an essential component of a state-of-the-art marine terminal operating in a modern supply chain, PS underlines.
8 APM Terminals, Pier 400 facility, the largest container terminal in North America, has deployed a state-of-the-art VBS
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