Integrated Port Management Systems in the Evolution of an Efficient Port Policy

The paper reviewed the various efforts made in recent years at integrating activities in the port system. Among these include vessel traffic management systems, vessel traffic management and information systems, simulation systems, supply chain management systems in the harbour environment and other systems management techniques. The work identified the following agents as active participants in the port system. The ship agent, the berth agent, the yard agent, the gate agent with the transtainer agent and the transport agent acting as sub agents. Other classification terms for agents found in the work includes the identification of physical agents in the port system and their interactive relationships. The physical agents thus identified in the port system includes: the supplier, the Harbour, the ship, the distributor and the customer, while, the logical agents includes the order agent, the logistics agent, the scheduling agent, the resource agent and the transportation agent. The identified agents were then applied to study the interactions between the following port system components of: port approach management, quayside/ Berth operations management, Documentations/information systems management, Marshalling area/ Land transport management and then ware housing/ cargo release management. Performance measurement techniques leading to the evolution of efficient port policies were applied in the study of the Nigerian port system. Areas requiring additional policy measures were identified. Applied measurement techniques includes container dwell time analysis, cargo through put forcasting based on historical data, ship berthing time analysis, equipment availability studies, cargo in-transit-time analysis and their contribution towards the development of efficient port management policies.