“Permanent iron ore terminal at Ennore Port for 6 mtpa throughput is ready and expected to be operational immediately after lifting of ban on export by Karnataka state,” Mr V.P. Mehta, General Manager, MMTC in a recent presentation. State-run trading firm MMTC owns 26 percent stake in the special purpose vehicle building the iron ore terminal while Sical Logistics has majority stake in the venture. The terminal was mostly dependent on Karnataka iron ore. Karnataka, which accounts for about one-fourth of total iron ore export from the country, had banned transportation of the mineral for exports purposes from the state in last July. “The consignments should resume very soon…may be within a fortnight’s time,” Mr H.R. Srinivasa, Mines Director, Karnataka said on May 3. Mr Mehta said that the terminal would be able to handle capsize vessels in the first phase and super capsize vessels in the second.

Though JNPT was free to open the bids (since the petition is yet be admitted and there is no stay), it decided against it as the case can take any course. Of the five parties that submitted bids, Adani, which is running the Mundra Port in Gujarat, was the only one denied security clearance. If its petition is admitted, it will further delay the bidding process, as the validity of the bids expires on June 30. Since Adani was also denied security clearance for bidding for another terminal at Vizag, the Visakhapatnam Port Trust has also been made a party to the case.
The tender for the Rs 6,500-crore fourth terminal project floated last year was already delayed due
The fourth terminal is crucial to JN Port as the existing terminals are operating at more than 100 per cent capacity. This is not an ideal situation as it could put huge pressure on men and machinery at the port, said a port user.

Receival and delivery of containers continues to operate as normal and full rail services have recommenced. Vessel operations remain suspended and LPC envisages that this will return to normal after midday Friday. Berthing windows have been suspended until further notice.  LPC expects to be able to work all general cargo ships as they present. Remediation work on the Inner Harbour wharves has commenced and will continue over the coming days.

PD Ports is a port and logistics company operating predominately on the eastern ports of England. The company manages the movement of cargo from port to terminal and aims to sell combined services, including transport and warehousing, to its customers. Recent acquisitions in these new areas necessitated investment in an integrated ERP solution, moving away from the current stand-alone operations in its 20 locations across the UK.

Marco van den Bremer-Hornsby, IT Director at PD Ports, said: “Our vision was for the port, warehousing, transport, and other business services to be integrated in one system. IFS Applications will therefore act as a dynamic host, capable of coordinating customer orders as well as keeping track of where each customer is in our value chain. It will essentially act as a central data warehouse, with customers able to pop in and out anywhere along the chain depending on the services they receive, and with PD Ports able to serve that customer without the delay associated with pulling up information utilising multiple data systems.  This will significantly improve our customer experience and operational efficiency.”

Prior to appointing IFS, PD Ports used ERP software for the financial aspect of the business only, with all other aspects handled separately at each operational base using various legacy systems. These legacy systems, approaching end-of-life, required an overhaul to create an integrated solution that unified the entire business to include the wide portfolio of port-centric logistics services of the company’s operations.

Paul Massey, Managing Director, IFS Europe West, said: “The challenge was to provide a solution that could integrate PD Ports’ various business units into one functional, easy to use system. Our experience in the sector and work with Brookfield, PD Ports’ parent company, ensured IFS delivered just that. We look forward to working with PD Ports to provide a system that will be a dynamic driver for business growth and enhance its level of customer service.”

van den Bremer-Hornsby concluded: “We selected IFS for a number of reasons, including its asset management expertise and proven ability to deploy its ERP application seamlessly and on time. The functionality of IFS Applications and knowledge of our business also played a key role in the selection process, but most importantly, IFS demonstrated that its ERP application is agile enough to suit our particular business needs.”

The payroll and HR aspects of IFS Applications will go live as early as autumn 2011 with 400 office based users and the remaining functions are due to be completed by 2013.