Most container terminals today choose to install their main TOS applications on site, running on their own hardware and IT infrastructure. Cloud computing challenges the logic of running and supporting all such infrastructure locally, especially for smaller businesses that do not have large in-house IT departments or a high degree of business complexity.

The rapid development in cloud computing means terminals are going to run into the cloud sooner or later. Research company Gartner forecasts that, by 2019, over 30% of the 100 largest vendors’ new software investments will have shifted from cloud-first to cloud-only developments. The IT infrastructure market has been moving to the cloud at an even  faster rate, with revenue from the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) market growing at more than 40% per annum since 2011.

In many respects, the Software as a Service (SaaS) model seems to be ideally suited to smaller terminals, and there is a subtle push coming from TOS vendors to deliver applications  using some variation of SaaS and the cloud.

Cloud success

One of the most successful TOS suppliers in delivering cloud services, so far, is Tideworks Technology, which has offered its TOS using the SaaS model for many years now. As well as  its core terminal management and planning applications, Tideworks also offers EDI functionality as a managed service, which it calls EDI Porter.

Last year, Tideworks Technology announced it had been selected by Crowley Maritime Corporation to supply a TOS and related services under a fully hosted model for up to six  different terminals, starting with Port Everglades. The applications will be hosted at a “hardened” data centre run by AT&T in Linwood, Washington.

This month, Tideworks announced that another customer, Ceres Terminals, has gone live with its Mainsail Vanguard TOS at its terminal in New Orleans, fully delivered under an SaaS model. New Orleans Terminal LLC is a joint venture with Mediterranean Shipping Company that operates at the Napoleon Avenue Terminal, currently handling around 165,000  containers per annum.

As well as Tideworks’ core Mainsail Vanguard TOS application, Ceres deployed its Spinnaker Planning Management System, Traffic Control, Forecast web portal, and it uses EDI Porter. Tideworks also integrated with the terminal’s existing gate automation system, from smartTecs, and added an appointment system for trucking companies.

Ceres has endorsed the installation. “Tideworks delivered a comprehensive, high-quality solution, and we’re confident it will help us operate more efficiently,” said James Parker, vice  president of Ceres Gulf New Orleans. “We’re very pleased with the work they’ve done and the outstanding customer service the Tideworks team provided throughout the  implementation process.”

Tideworks has now branded its SaaS option as a separate product, called Citadel MC. As well as being secure, Tideworks emphasised that an SaaS implementation can typically be  deployed much faster than an on-site installation, especially if the terminal does not have the appropriate IT infrastructure for housing servers and other hardware. 

Another idea

Earlier this year, WorldCargo News reported that Realtime Business Solutions (RBS) of Australia planned to push cloud computing somewhat further and offer its complete TOPS TOS  as a “managed service”. This would be a combination of software and services, where RBS will host and run the TOS on the cloud via AWS or a similar cloud base vendor for  terminals.

This includes all the operational aspects like vessel and yard planning, equipment control, as well as administrative functions like Customs requirements and interfaces with other  systems. Customers would pay for each service on a per-container basis, and purchase these services online.

Managing director Harry Nguyen said RBS has completed development work for the SaaS version of TOPS, and is now setting up its e-commerce site and banking services for online  transactions for “online shipping”. Launch date is targeted for later this year.

Enter Octopi

A new company called Cetus Labs, based in Maimi, Florida, is now offering an SaaS-only TOS called Octopi, and it has its first deployments in Haiti.

Cetus Labs was started by two software engineers with 25 years’ experience. Founder Luc Castera told WorldCargo News that, two years ago, he was asked to consult on a TOS  project by a friend who was advising a terminal operating company looking to buy a TOS. Already involved in software start-ups, Castera saw an opportunity, and convinced the company to wait six months, and he would build a product that met its needs.

Octopi went live at its first terminal in Haiti in October 2016, and is now managing three terminals in Port au Prince (which are soon to merge) handling a combined 175,000 TEU  annually.

Octopi’s target market, said Castera, is smaller companies that cannot afford to support larger IT systems and infrastructure. It is not, however, encouraging terminals to pay on fee-per container basis, preferring a basic licensing structure based on volume bands. 

A TOS developed in six months for a small customer base does not have the legacy or the functionality of the bigger systems in the market, but Castera does not see this as a  disadvantage. Initial functionality includes an EDI library for some of the main message sets, again built in-house, and BAPLIE support will be added in the coming months.

Octopi is pitched at terminals in the 5,000 to 200,000 TEU range initially, and, compared to bigger systems, some of the functionality is stripped down. Yard planning, for example, is  not slot-specific. A terminal handling 10,000 to 20,000 TEU, said Castera, does not need to know exactly where every container is located. Yards of that size typically handle small  calls, and organise containers by line and vessel. Octopi can generate a map showing where containers of a certain type are located, based on a Google map of the yard.

As terminals get bigger, they will, however, want slot-specific yard planning, and it is something Octopi is developing now. Leveraging agile development and the cloud means it can  roll out new functionality very quickly, added Castera.

Visibility tools 

Where he believes Octopi is ahead of existing products is in providing visibility tools for operations and management personnel. These include a real-time, built-in Business  Intelligence (BI) dashboard that Castera believes will bridge a gap where management today typically want this information, but never use a TOS to get it.

“From our conversations and research, the executive teams at terminals never log-in into the TOS because it’s too complex for them and doesn’t show them their data aggregated in  a way that they care to see,” said Castera. “With Octopi, the executive team is constantly logging in from their phones, tablets or any desktop computer to see the progress of their  vessel operation and key metrics about their terminal operations.”

Like RBS with its managed TOS application, Octopi believes that SaaS can and should simplify the whole process of using a TOS. “Current TOS offerings,” said Castera, “are very hard to use, and require lots of training. Octopi is easy to use and has a strong focus on providing a beautiful and easy-to-use user interface. We want to build a product that people could self sign-up for and easily start using, without any hand-holding from our team, and we are already close to that. Do you need a Google employee to help you setup Gmail? No. That’s what we are going for with Octopi.”

The development of SaaS for TOS has not gone unnoticed by Navis. At the TOC Europe conference in Hamburg this year, Navis president Benoît de la Tour said he wants the company to extend its reach into smaller ports, leveraging its N4 platform to offer hosted software for both smaller and mixed/general cargo terminals.

One event that could influence the uptake of SaaS is Oracle’s announcement this month of a range of new cloud products and services, including a new IaaS that allows existing  applications to be moved from on-premise hosting to the cloud for a much lower cost. 

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This complete item is approximately 1400 words in length, and appeared in the September 2016 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 30. To access this issue download the PDF here.