Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) says the upgrade of Navis – from 2.3 to 2.6 – will limit business risks to TPT and its customers.

According to the company, version 2.6 boasts a number of new features like enhanced rail functionality, improved performance, and greater scalability.

“We have pulled out all stops to ensure that this upgrade is incident-free and that in the unforeseen situation when issues arise, we are able to deal with them flawlessly and without detriment to operations. This will be the industry’s most advanced operating system available,” says Deirdre Ackermann, GM of EIMS at TPT.

With escalating pressures on global supply chain logistics, container terminals around the world need to operate at peak performance to stay competitive and maintain profitability. “It is the only solution that allows planning and operational staff to view, manage and control multiple terminals from a central location at the click of a button,” says Ackermann.

Key enhancements available in Navis 2.6 include a refreshed planning and control user interface (UI), robust system management and administration capabilities, tools to ease N4 migrations and improvements to electronic data interchange and gate functionality.

TPT says the system has already undergone user acceptance testing, a manual functional test of the application, as well as stress testing to ensure the system is robust enough to handle increased volumes ahead of demand. The final stage of testing, which will be carried out before the system goes live, is the roll-back solution, which will test that TPT is able to revert back to the existing Navis 2.3 system if needed.

“We have used our experience gained from previous installations and upgrades of Navis to ensure this upgrade is incident-free, with limited inconvenience to our customers and operations. Terminal staff has also been trained in readiness for the switchover and there will be TPT ‘super users’ as well as Navis engineers on site to assist while the upgrade is taking place. There will also be a central Command Centre available for our customers to call through 24/7 for any questions or issues. We believe that with this new software we will be better equipped than ever before to handle increased capacity,” concluded Ackermann.