Vessel operations at the DP World-managed container handling facility in Port Botany, Sydney, will be suspended for an estimated 24 hours in a bid to clear a huge backlog of containers.
Teething troubles associated with the introduction of a new Navis Sparcs N4 terminal operating system have compounded congestion problems at the Australian facility for the last week.
DP World said the suspension of vessel operations would resume at 10pm this evening.
During the stoppage, DP?World has been work closely with road and rail operators to maximise the movement of containers out of the terminal in a bid to bring yard utilisation back to normal levels.
Expressing its regret about the significant impact the suspension will have on vessels’ schedules, DP World said it would be discussing possible alternatives directly with shipping lines.
MD of DP World Australia, Ganesh Raj, said yesterday: “Issues relating to the terminal operating system have taken longer to resolve than expected, and we sincerely regret the inconvenience this continues to cause,”
“While the manual processes we put in place have been somewhat effective in keeping traffic flowing, they were insufficient to keep pace with the quantity of imports being discharged from vessels.
“The underlying problems that contributed to this situation have now been identified and we expect to be in a much better position when we recommence normal vessel operations.”
In response, Richard Harrison, MD of Maritime Solutions at Zebra Enterprise Solutions, supplier of the Navis Sparcs N4 terminal operating system, said: “From our understanding, the challenge in Australia was related to the shared responsibilities of delivering the project, implementation and some sub-systems from other vendors.
“We have not discovered any issues related to our product specifically. We have more than 30 successful N4 implementations around the globe, some of which are with DP World.”
Although vessel operators have not yet introduced a surcharge, there have been complaints about additional costs incurred. Some ships have begun avoiding the terminal or have found it necessary to speed up after their port call in attempts to get back on schedule.
Teething troubles associated with the introduction of a new Navis Sparcs N4 terminal operating system have compounded congestion problems at the Australian facility for the last week.
DP World said the suspension of vessel operations would resume at 10pm this evening.
During the stoppage, DP?World has been work closely with road and rail operators to maximise the movement of containers out of the terminal in a bid to bring yard utilisation back to normal levels.
Expressing its regret about the significant impact the suspension will have on vessels’ schedules, DP World said it would be discussing possible alternatives directly with shipping lines.
MD of DP World Australia, Ganesh Raj, said yesterday: “Issues relating to the terminal operating system have taken longer to resolve than expected, and we sincerely regret the inconvenience this continues to cause,”
“While the manual processes we put in place have been somewhat effective in keeping traffic flowing, they were insufficient to keep pace with the quantity of imports being discharged from vessels.
“The underlying problems that contributed to this situation have now been identified and we expect to be in a much better position when we recommence normal vessel operations.”
In response, Richard Harrison, MD of Maritime Solutions at Zebra Enterprise Solutions, supplier of the Navis Sparcs N4 terminal operating system, said: “From our understanding, the challenge in Australia was related to the shared responsibilities of delivering the project, implementation and some sub-systems from other vendors.
“We have not discovered any issues related to our product specifically. We have more than 30 successful N4 implementations around the globe, some of which are with DP World.”
Although vessel operators have not yet introduced a surcharge, there have been complaints about additional costs incurred. Some ships have begun avoiding the terminal or have found it necessary to speed up after their port call in attempts to get back on schedule.