BY: WILLIE BEE TINGBA, JR

DIGITAL RIGHTS ADVOCATE

Information systems are very indispensable to the competitiveness of ports, facilitating communication and decision making for enhancing visibility, efficiency, reliability, and security in port operations under various conditions and it’s needed at all ports across Liberia which includes; FreePort of Monrovia, Port of Buchanan, Port of Greenville and Port of Harper.

In Liberia, we have a National Port Authority (NPA) that was established by an Act of the National Legislature in 1967 and amended in 1970 as a state-owned corporation to manage, plan, design, construct and shall engage in the development, maintenance and operation of all public ports within Liberia.

It is an institution that was formulated to serve as an economic engine that produces jobs and economic prosperity for the economy. But lacks the implementation of Information and Communication Technology at its entity’s since 1970.

Recent study has proven that since the middle of the 1990s, effectively Global Positioning Systems (GPS), has been installed in other developed and developing African countries ports including; Port Loui (Mauritius), (Cotonou) Benin, (Toamasina) Madagascar, (Dar es Salaam) Tanzania, (Mombasa) Kenya and etc.

Generally, the implementation of GPS within all ports across Liberia will enable the position detection and tracking of movable objects such as containers, vessels, vehicles, and equipment.

For vessels, GPS will become the primary aid to navigation in and outside the port area. In the port operations, real-time data on the position and status of objects becomes increasingly important to improve the visibility and to efficiently plan and coordinate activities involving multiple actors.

In container terminals, differential GPS (DGPS) technology can be initially used to accurately identify and track container yard positions. That is, DGPS extends GPS by fixed reference stations that calculate the difference between the precisely known location and GPS positioning data.

Yesteryears in Liberia, we experienced an alleged missing container of money amounting to L$9 billion (US$60 million) from the Freeport of Monrovia. And we are yet to get the actual information about it. This is where GPS or CCTV cameras could’ve been an indispensable tool for tracking the alleged missing container.

The implementations of CCTV cameras across all ports in Liberia will help the Security apparatus and team of ICTs employees at the FreePort of Monrovia to monitor all ports activities across Liberia around the clock in a single room as it’s in Orange Liberia, Central Bank, and other commercial banks here in Liberia.

Nowadays, the range of applications for video surveillance technology is no longer limited to traditional security tasks such as the detection of unwanted intruders or even the prevention of terrorist attacks. Video surveillance has meanwhile become an indispensable tool to design all processes across the port area as efficiently as possible.

This includes access controls, the prevention of accidents at sluices and the administration of the commodity flows throughout the harbour. One thing certainly applies to ports: Time is money, and whenever the stream of goods comes to a halt for some reason or time-consuming searches must be carried out to find lost shipments, cash money is at stake.

For Access control:

Whether by land or by water: The port area may only be accessed by authorized personnel. High-resolution cameras, therefore, detect everybody who enters the premises and document the ship traffic as well as the movements of people and vehicles at the port’s gateways.

For Theft protection:

Numerous goods and containers are stored at the port’s reloading points, and they all have to be protected from theft. With the analysis “intruder”, ICTs can offer a first class solution for securing certain areas against unauthorized access. “Intruder” is a development entirely based on the SEDOR technology and allows for effective surveillance both outdoors and indoors.

The system determines for example, if an object approaches an area, from which direction it is coming, or how long it stays in a certain area. Based on the carried out classification, the system is able to differentiate between an object “people” and for instance, object “animal”.

For Tracking of commodities:

Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely eliminate cases of damaged goods, loading errors or other kinds of loss during the distribution of goods at delivery points. However, using high-value video surveillance the movements of every single container can be documented completely.

Also, misguided goods can quickly be found again and the system also helps in conclusively proving transport damages. Disputable situations, which might, for example, arise when trying to determine when the damage occurred and who was responsible, can be resolved definitively and without the need for time-consuming investigations. Therefore, payments of damages can be allocated to the responsible individuals.

After what I have said, the following below are key systems that the government of Liberia through the National Port Authority (NPA) and its Board of Trustees can formulate in order to make our ports digitized; This would help in bridging the digital gap that exist between Liberia and other developed countries:

Ø  Global navigation satellite systems

Ø  Real-time location systems

Ø  Port community systems

Ø  Vessel traffic services

Ø  Automated gate systems

Ø  Port road and traffic control information systems

Ø  Intelligent transportation systems

Ø  Port hinterland intermodal information systems

Ø  Automated yard systems

Ø  Gate appointment systems

Ø  Terminal operating systems

Ø  Global System for Mobile Communications

Ø  Optical character recognition systems

Ø  Radio-frequency identification

Ø  Electronic data interchange

In conclusion, port-related information systems and enabling technologies are inherent and an essential part of port operations enabling the collection, exchange, analysis, and dissemination of important information among different stakeholders. Combined with optimization methods, these systems above provide a foundation for extracting process-related knowledge and for supporting long- and short-term decision making thus enabling smarter port operations as it is in other countries. Consequently, the importance of integrated information systems will continue to grow, in particular, because of current challenges faced by many ports around the globe including Liberia.

Liberia may need to start looking into new and emerging technologies and align them with our economic needs.  Cloud computing, Big Data, Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, predictive analytics, machine learning and business intelligence, cybersecurity, etc are opening new possibilities to help us manage, operate and change our way of living. We look forward to a time in Liberia, when machines and robots will become part of our economy.

I put my pen down for now, before doing that, let me remind you that ICTs are here to stay. They have changed the way we live and they will continue to do so for a long time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Willie Bee Tingba, Jr. holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Technology Infrastructure Management/Computer Science from the United Methodist University (UMU). He is a Digital Rights Activate, Part-Time Lecturer and the Founder and President Emeritus at the Liberia Information Technology Students Union (LITSU). He can be contacted on the following numbers and email addresses 0777538605/0880321976. Email: williebee0880321976@gmail.com/williebee19@yahoo.com