Due to positive feedback from supply chain partners, the San Pedro Bay ports plan to continue working with General Electric (GE)’s transportation division to develop its Port Optimizer platform, a data-sharing program that aims to improve the efficiency of the supply chain.

Noel Hacegaba, deputy executive director of operations and administration at the Port of Long Beach, explained that the cloud-based platform allows users to track cargo at different points in the supply chain. Data is entered into the Port Optimizer by multiple entities, such as the terminal operators, shipping lines and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Supply chain stakeholders are able to access the program online with views customized to fit their needs. The Port Optimizer gives each company tasked with moving cargo advanced notice of its arrival and destination points.

Hacegaba compared the Port Optimizer to Expedia, a travel platform that enables users to book flights, make hotel reservations and rent a car through one website. “The Port Optimizer brings the same streamlined advantages to the supply chain,” he commented.

The enhanced visibility of container movement is the program’s most important feature, Hacegaba said. “Historically, each segment of the marine supply chain developed its own systems over time. That has created silos where, for instance, the shipping line, the terminal operator, the truck operator and the railroad all have their own discrete operating systems that don’t talk to each other,” he explained “What you end up with is information that is not 100% accurate, and partners in the supply chain who are not able to make real-time decisions because the data is not available.”

The Port of Long Beach began a pilot program to test the technology in August. The pilot is scheduled to run until the end of October. The platform was implemented at three marine terminals: Long Beach Container Terminal, Total Terminals International and International Transportation Service, Inc. The three major ocean carrier alliances are also involved, as well as three railroads: Union Pacific, BNSF Railway Co. and Pacific Harbor Line.

“We’ve been very impressed with the response we’ve received by our customers and users,” Hacegaba said. “There’s a lot of interest and hopeful expectation that could really help us as a port industry move to the next level.”

The technology was first implemented at the Port of Los Angeles, which issued a request for proposals for the software’s development in the summer of 2016. GE Transportation was selected to develop a program. The port has been working with Port Optimizer since May 2017, when the earliest version debuted. “We saw some good results in the pilot. . . . the plan is to have it rolled out to the entire port as soon as we can make that happen,” Port of L.A. Marketing Manager Chris Chase said.

Hacegaba said the Port of Long Beach is working with GE to develop new features, including one that would allow truckers to make terminal appointments across the San Pedro Bay port complex. “Right now, a trucker has to go to each individual terminal’s website to book an appointment,” he explained. “This [new function] is an example of how we believe technology can enable efficiencies.”

Another new feature would help truckers conduct dual transactions at terminals. “How can we leverage this optimizer so that a truck coming into the port to pick up a container can also drop off an empty container at the same time?” Hacegaba queried. “That way, instead of having two trucks performing two tests, we can just have one truck.”According to Chase, the online portal gives each supply chain partner access to different information in order to protect data and privacy. “If you’re a trucking company, you have a given view. If you’re a cargo owner, there’s a different set of data that you’ll be allowed to see,” he explained. “We’re not trying to make a consumer-level site. This is a business-to-business website.”

Chase emphasized that the Port Optimizer is not replacing any other system, but rather coordinating the existing ones. “We’re trying to take a lot of information and distill it down to a common user interface,” he explained. “That way, users don’t have to go to a dozen websites to track their cargo, they can go to one screen.”

The Port of L.A. estimated that it achieved a 10% increase in efficiency in port operations for the technology’s pilot phase, Chase said. “We’re trying something new. If it was easy, someone would’ve already done it,” he commented.