CTMS Container Terminal Management System

CTMS gives an opportunity to manage operation of the overload equipment, transport and personnel, to control movements of containers and also promotes fast planning of tasks for personnel, considering the current situation. All transactions controlled by the automated control system for the container terminal are performed using the mobile terminals of data collection (TDC). Their use at execution of operations in a warehouse allows to reduce number of errors, runtime of transactions, gives an opportunity of obtaining exact information in real time.

The result received in the course of each transaction is brought in CTMS from a data collection terminal. The container terminal should have the unrolled Wi-Fi radio network. CTMS is developed on a software platform of NET and according to concepts of SOA. Control of the container terminal is exercised using such equipment as:

• industrial printers for printing of labels of production of Zebra Technologies company,
• high-quality radio equipment of production of Motorola company (Symbol),
• RFID technologies.

At will with the customer in process of automation other brands of the radio equipment and printers a stroke labels can be attracted. The main business challenges of today's container terminal – providing high speed and accuracy of cargo handling taking into account individual customer requirements. High-quality management of all transactions on the terminal gives the chance to optimize processes of acceptance and shipment of containers, to reduce time of placement and search of containers on the platform, it is reasonable to use the overload equipment and working personnel, to obtain information on operation of the terminal in real time, to quickly provide the necessary information to cargo owners, precisely and to quickly rate the rendered services.

Tasks and functions of CTMS systems

Problems of CTMS systems

Optimal use of resources

• Increase in turnover of the container terminal due to optimization of storage locations.
• Optimization of storage of containers.
• Automatic search of optimal storage locations.
• Carrying out inventories without stopping container terminal.

Management of a warehouse in real time

• Accounting of all up-to-date information about a container.
• Reflection of all transactions in real time.
• Possibility of operating control behind operation of the terminal.
• Relevant reflection of stocks and transactions in an enterprise management system.

Personnel management

• Increase in turnover of the terminal without increase in number of personnel.
• Management of operation of the equipment and personnel of a warehouse in real time by means of issue by the system of tasks.
• Management of operation of the overload equipment.
• Formation of the production reporting.
• Fast training in work in the system of new personnel.
• Possibility of use of schemes of motivation of employees.
• Monitor of work of users.

Functions of CTMS systems

• Maintaining reference books of a system: reference book of containers, reference book of loads, reference book by owners of containers, reference book by partners, reference book of the loading equipment.
• Planning of zones of placement of containers.
• Management of transactions with containers: acceptance, shipment, examination, weighing, repair, etc.
• Management of the strategy of movement of a container on the container terminal.
• Management of grouping of containers by different criteria.
• Management of operation of the overload equipment.
• Management of processing of transport: automobile, railway.
• Formation of the production reporting.
• Billing.

Management of the following factors treats the CTMS functions:

• address space of the container platform, territorial restriction

container platform;

• transactions with containers: acceptance, shipment, examination, repair, etc.;
• course of movement of a container on the container terminal;
• consolidation of containers in stacks by certain criteria;
• operation of the overload equipment;
• processing of transport: automobile and railway

Also carry to functions of this system:

• maintaining production reporting;
• document package printing (acts, etc.);
• billing, collecting of billing data and their transfer to CIS for the purpose of processing and formation of the account for the provided services;
• integration of a management system for the container terminal with CIS;
• creation of reference books of a system: reference book of containers, reference book of loads, reference book by owners of containers, reference book by partners, reference book of the loading equipment.

Advantages of CTMS systems

The main economic results received from implementation of CTMS systems:

• rational placement of containers;
• exception of losses of containers;
• acceleration of processing of containers;
• decrease in operating costs of the terminal, their optimization and transparency;
• optimization of use of the equipment and loading equipment;
• increase in processing speed of motor transport, railway transport, vessels;
• reduction of operating costs of the loading equipment;
• decrease in a single run due to use of algorithms of optimization at issue of works;
• reduction of a run of the empty equipment;
• increase in effective management of personnel;
• performance improvement of work of personnel;
• cutting of costs for inappropriate use of personnel;
• saving of time on execution of accompanying documents;
• access to necessary documents in real time.

Architecture

• Database server.

Information necessary for system operation is in a management system for the database which is in turn stored on a database server.

• Application server.

The schedule system (scheduler) which bears responsibility for operational event handling to job sharing on movement of containers and issue of tasks to workers of the terminal (gagers of containers, drivers of container carriers, managers) is on the application server.

• Module of reports and viewing history of transactions.

The module of reports is used for the purpose of creation of required reporting documents (independent including) which are necessary in technology processing of containers on the terminal.

• Module of graphic display of the terminal.

A system gives the chance of observation of the terminal in the mode of 2kh-dimensional graphic display. On the screen of graphical representation zones of the terminal, storage location and arrangement of the equipment are represented. On a request for information on storage location, a system issues the list of the containers which are available in it and detailed information on them.

• The list of reporting documentation forms in coordination with the customer. Reports can be submitted in that format which will be selected by the user (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and, at need emergence, to be transferred by e-mail. Report generation is performed by means of SQL scripts or standard report generators (Crystal Reports, etc.). The management system gives the chance to the operator to trace the history of all transactions on the terminal for the selected period and the fixed persons.
• Jobs of operators of radio terminals (RDT).

Jobs of operators are the text forms prepared especially for work on radio terminals, reducing manual entry of data to a minimum and providing means of protecting from the wrong information input.

• Jobs of managers.

Work locations of managers are at the client workstations integrated with the application server and a database server. A set of graphic tools using which he can observe an operational situation on the terminal is provided to the manager, make necessary decisions in case of occurrence of extreme situations, carry out the corresponding work planning on movement of containers on the terminal, perform setup of parameters of schedule system.

Links

• CTSM, a management system for the container terminal technology, automation of the container terminal from Konsid Resheniya
• Management system for the container terminal
• SOLVO – Management system for the container terminal

Solutions

• Solvo.TOS (before Solvo.CTMS)
• Open Source HH.CMS