Cornelder de Mozambique is investing heavily in operations to meet the growing demand for containerised, bulk and breakbulk shipments at the Port of Beira.According to executive managing director Jan de Vries, for bulk this includes upgrading the warehouses and equipment.“We have a diverse range of imports and traders that use the Port of Beira, and our goal is to ensure our operations meet the needs of all our clients,” he said.The warehouses are made cyclone-proof, and with conveyor systems for loading out cargo more efficiently. After completion of the conversion of existing warehouses, more warehouses will be built that are linked to the quayside using conveyors.“We are also developing big bagging machines that will replace the manual bagging operation in use today for big bags.”De Vries said the bagging machines could bag sulphur very quickly into the types of bags used in regional trade, even straight onto the quay. “By combining bulk and bagging operations it will allow us to handle these commodities far more efficiently – increasing our loading times significantly,” he told Freight News.First in Africa to use automatic hooksOn the breakbulk side, Cornelder is aiming for greater productivity and better safety through application of technology. Besides a number of new forklifts, Cornelder is the first company in Africa to use automatic hooks. Together with new configurable spreaders, these hooks increase the handling speed of big bags as release of bag slings is done fully automatically and remotely. Besides using this setup on vessel operations, it is also used in-house where the company has developed a spreader that can be attached to a reach stacker, allowing it to lift 12 bags at once with automatic hooks. This delivers the ability to very quickly stack bags in warehouses and load trucks in record time.“With a successful trial completed, we have already placed the order for more units,”said De Vries. “Investment in information technology is ongoing. It introduces efficiency into our operations. Digitalisation of the general cargo terminal is happening as we speak. At present we are running the new General Cargo Terminal Operational System parallel to the old paper-based system until all the teething problems have been addressed. Plans are to fully rely on the new system by the end of the year.”On the new system, all the port operations from the gate to the weighbridges to the vessel will be controlled and handled via this online system. This, says De Vries, will significantly improve visibility and control while also upping ef f icienc y.Digital workflows developed in-houseHe said many of the solutions introduced to the port to address the outbreak of the global Covid pandemic had resulted in technological advances. “We were, for a long time, aiming to digitalise more administrative workf lows, but the Covid pandemic forced our hand to switch fully and in record time. Not being able to bring in external consultants, we decided to develop our own digital workf lows in-house. Our IT department was reinforced and we realised we had great development potential. Instead of basic digital workf lows, our team developed a full-f ledged online customer portal that completely eliminates the need for coming to our offices for administrative matters; all documentation and invoicing can be done online.”The new system has been well received by the industry to not only solve Covid-related issues, but also increase efficiency of processes for clients.He said the system had been thoroughly tested by cybersecurity companies and was found exceptionally safe – and therefore the platform was used as a foundation for future development. “We are now linking this system with our Navis terminal operating system to take it a step further and control the f low of containers from outer regions to the port. Truck appointments and cargo booking will be done through the platform so Navis is automatically updated. This new module is now in its pilot phase and will roll out to full usage before the end of the year.”The next step, said De Vries, was integrating gate operations into this system. “ We cu r rent ly have an in-house-developed hand-held application that, through OCR/artificial intelligence, recognises driver, truck and containers. This application will be integrated into the customer portal platform so that from the moment the truck intends to visit the port to the moment it departs, we can safely and efficiently validate truck, drivers and containers at all checkpoints without drivers having to leave their trucks. The port will see a major boost in safety and efficiency. Most of the components are already in place but we hope to see final integration early next year once we have fully tested it all.Investments under way at container terminalOn the container terminal, investments are also under way. The yard is being expanded and work is about to start on existing gate expansion. The investment into a truck positioning system that indicates to trucks exactly where to stop for loading from the cranes has proven a great success.“Instead of an operator indicating by hand, often resulting in trucks having to move back and forth, the system detects by radar and laser the exact position for the truck to park and signals it to the driver. This has seen the terminal crane productivity improve by 15%,” said De Vries.Cornelder was also renewing the container terminal handling f leet and had received 20 new terminal trucks and six new reach stackers – as well as a range of other equipment in the last 12 months.“Adding more equipment to our operation speaks directly to our efficiency. This year we recorded a new record for a vessel, doing over 1 150 container moves in a 12-hour shif t.”De Vries said the quays were also being renovated gradually as part of the ongoing upgrade programme.
