international Container Terminal Services,
Inc. (ICTSI) yesterday said the operations in its subsidiary
Baltic Container Terminal (BCT) was hampered by the labor strike
in its terminal in Gdynia , Poland .
ICTSI said the deadlock in the 2008 salary
negotiations prompted the labor union to call for a strike that
started last Thursday.
"The union called the strike because of a
deadlock in the 2008 salary negotiations. BCT management will
continue with its effort to find a fair solution to this wage
negotiation deadlock," the company said.
ICTSI has undertaken comprehensive
infrastructure, equipment and systems investments to enhance
total terminal productivity of the terminal. The leading port
operator has placed orders of two rubber-tired gantries to
further beef up its yard handling power.
But due to the deadlock, ICTSI said, the
operation of the terminal is adversely affected by the strike.
The company has not reported the actual damage brought by the
disturbances in the said terminal.
BCT's total annual terminal capacity has been
raised to 750, 000 TEUs from 400, 000 TEUs and will further
raise the capacity up to 1.2 million TEUs.
Last year, BCT implemented a new terminal
operating system (TOS) to further improve efficiency at Poland
's leading international trade gateway.
The first stage of the systems upgrade
started with an audit of the terminal's business processes by
United States- based Tideworks Technology.
The analysis, preparation and customization
of Tideworks applications were made to meet specific BCT
demands. The applications were continuously upgraded and tested.
The employees, including customs, lines,
agents and forwarders personnel, were also trained on the new
system which has four applications; Mainsail, Spinnaker, Traffic
Control and Mainsail On-line.
Mainsail contains all current and historical
data, allowing performance of basic terminal tasks with
statistical and reporting features, while Spinnaker provides
fully integrated vessel, berth, yard, and rail planning tools
including visualization and graphics.
Traffic Control, a sub-module to Spinnaker,
allows the automation and management of container handling
equipment, while Mainsail On-line, a sub-module of Mainsail,
enables agents, forwarders, customs and other parties to view
and, in certain cases, modify, in real-time, some container and
terminal activity data through a web browser.
