Penang Port gets the CMC touch once again
February 8, 2006

CMC's expertise in Ports & Cargo area and its timely execution of the major project for Penang Port, has resulted a second order from the customer.

Malaysia has been a keen hub for cargo and related traffic and the difficulty in handling all the operations effectively forced the Penang Port into floating a global tender for providing a solution/s that would effectively reduce the load and the time taken for the smooth functioning of the port.

Penang Port is managed and operated by Penang Port Sdn. Bhd. (PPSB), a corporate entity set up under the Malaysian Government's privatization policy.

Containers are handled at the Butterworth Container Terminal (BWCT) and North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT). At present, the combined container handling capacity at BWCT and NBCT is 770,000 TEUs per annum. The Container Services unit is also the first of PPSB's business units to be awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certification.

In 1992, the Penang Port Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia released a global tender for the complete design, development, supply, implementation and maintenance of a container terminal management system at its then newly constructed North Butterworth Container terminal (NBCT). After an exhaustive evaluation process that took over a year, the contract was awarded to CMC; its Malaysian associate and hardware vendor, Komputer Sistem Malaysia (KSM); and Teklogix of Canada for the RDT system.

The computerized container terminal management system is meant to cater to the requirements of both NBCT and BWCT terminal. The system includes modules for operations control (gate, quay, yard, berth, rail), container planning (vessel, yard, rail, berth), radio data terminal communication, billing & invoicing and cargo freight station operations. CMC implemented the MACH system on SUN MICROSYSTEMS hardware under SOLARIS Operating System, with OSF/Motif graphical user interface and using relational database technology.

After the completion of warranty support as part of the above project, CMC has provided remote warranty support for almost two years from India including enhancements as requested by PPSB. CMC extended Y2K support during the Year 2000 to make the system Y2K compliant. Also, based on PPSB requirements, CMC has enhanced the system by adding the functionality. CMC is in regular touch with PPSB and updating them about the latest trends in container handling with respect to Information Technology & Communications.

Penang Port Sdn. Bhd. is very appreciative of the features of MACH application software and the after sales support from CMC.

The IT systems for container operations at PPSB were implemented in 1994-95. The technological advancements both in IT as well as the handling equipment since then have drastically changed the way ports deal with containers and their customers in terms of providing better and competent service.

Ports & Cargo group of CMC Limited has stayed in tune with the changing times and constantly enhanced the container and cargo handling products MACH and CALM respectively.

The IT solution will be built around CMC's MACH software. The Planning modules will be deployed on Unix platform while the Documentation modules will be based on Developer 2000. Oracle is the RDBMS and will be deployed on Unix environment. The real-time operations will be recorded using RDT and Executive Information System will be based on Cognos products.

In order to provide an Integrated Solution, this application will interface with the SAP ERP system of Penang Port.

This project is being executed from CMC Center Hyderabad. The project has commenced in the third week of January 2006. Currently our team is in Malaysia to capture the customization requirements. The system will be implemented in seven months time frame. This will be followed by a one-year on-site support and six months remote support.