MGI launches Ci5

News 7 Dec 2015 by WCN Editorial

Marseilles-based port cargo logistics and IT expert MGI – Marseilles Gyptis International has unveiled its next generation cargo community system.

𝕏

At a lavish party last week, which was attended by 600 guests and also organised to celebrate the company’s 30th anniversary, Jaap van den Hoogen, group president, described the launch of Ci5 (Cargo Intelligence 5) as “taking the company global” and of a product that was “unrivalled”.

Ci5 replaces AP+, which has been on the market for 10 years and was jointly developed with SOGET. The new system has been developed by MGI and it has taken more than a year to come to fruition. Hoogen stressed: “Technologies have evolved and the requirements of the industry have changed significantly over the past decade and while we have spent an average of €800,000 a year since 2005 on upgrades, we believed a new door-to-door and transparent product was needed.

“We set up an internal and dedicated team called ARROW to ensure that the needs of the air, rail, road, ocean and waterways sectors have been fully represented, consulted with outside experts, including the French Ministry of Transport, and sought feedback from our existing customers. We believe the result is the most advanced cargo community communication system in the world.”

Dominique Lebreton, director of projects, auditing and marketing, explained that Ci5 will provide its customers with faster and more secure cargo flows and it is a platform that anticipates the future, for instance the greater use of intelligent containers.

He said: “We have developed an intelligence system that goes way beyond the port and offers door-to-door traceability. It features ‘Fast Lane, a concept that gives priority to customers that have planned their operations in advance, active monitoring, including vessel tracking, and unrivalled business intelligence tools, including KPIs, statistics and dashboards.”

Lebreton also believes Ci5 will help establish MGI in the global market place. Currently, AP+ is installed in most French ports, in various French territories in the Caribbean, including French Guiana, Martinique and Guadaloupe, Mayotte and New Caledonia in the South Pacific, Jakarta (Indonesia) and the West African ports of Cotonou (Benin) and Lome (Togo).

MGI’s AP+ processes over 45 million messages a year from its 1,000+ clients and 29,000 users. It trains about 400 people a year, including students.