WESTPORT officially launched on April 15 the Westport operations planning system (Wops), after intensive tests over the past two months.

The new system, developed entirely in-house, aims to help managers involved in container loading and unloading operations.

"The managers can now deploy accurately equipment like rubber tyre gantries (RTGs) and prime movers (PMs) and optimise their use," Klang Multi Terminal Service Sdn Bhd said in a statement.

The port operator said Wops will help by capturing the location and movement of all the yard equipment, which is displayed on a single screen for the managers to monitor.

"We should be in a position to choose terminals where we can enjoy their service quality and not be restricted because of their infrastructure.

Wops uses real-time technology to update and display the location and movement of container yard equipment.

It also has a feature to forecast and display in graphics form loading moves predicted to take place an hour in advance.

"Wops is based on a Control Tower concept," said Klang Multi Terminal vessel operations manager M. Nanthakumar.

"It has a complete and thorough view of all activities taking place on the (container) yard. The information gathered is automatically consolidated in one central console for monitoring and forecasting operations."

Wops, by helping to eliminate bottlenecks, significantly cuts down the time taken for redeployment of equipment, Nanthakumar claimed.

"Previously, the managers used their best guess to redeploy RTGs (after the initial deployment). The lag time was simply too high. So while some RTGs idled, some overworked.

"It was also almost impossible then to determine the current location of each RTG and their status," he added.