Ghana Link Network Services
Smooth the flow of containers in the port of Banjul (Gambia)
Our experience has proved productive, efficient and progressively useful to our business.
Nabali BAWA – Managing Director
Ghana Link Network
Project summary
Project launch :
Installation :
Country: Gambia
Sector :
State of play
As part of the plans to expand and modernize the Port of Banjul, the Government issued a call for tenders. Ghana Link Network Services through its affiliate company Nick TC-Scan Ltd (Gambia) was successful in the tender to provide a National Single Window solution in The Gambia. A part of the solution, was to implement a system to improve the counting of containerized cargo at the seaport.
“Our initial idea was to use tablets and smartphones on which users would manually take photos of container numbers as the containers were unloaded from the ship. It was at this time that I remembered NESTOR TECHNOLOGIES, with whom I had worked with my former company Gateway Services Ltd, affiliated to Cotecna in Ghana.
At that time, we had implemented the TREX-CONTAINER solution to automatically capture trucks license plates and containers numbers for the freight scanner at the port of Tema (Ghana).
As we continued our initial thinking about the use of smartphones and tablets, I realized that this would generate an undesirable amount of human interventions.”
Then, Nabali Bawa asked us to make a proposal for the implementation of the TREX-CONTAINER solution. Our AI-based OCR solution would automatically record containers numbers as the containers are transported from the ship to the container yard and vice versa. “NESTOR TECHNOLOGIES gave us a perfectly comprehensive proposal at a reasonable cost”.
Solution NESTOR TECHNOLOGIES
Our customer chose TREX-CONTAINER for its functionality, which was totally in line with his needs (to automatically know the number of the containers passing over the inbound/outbound bridge for identification and settlement purposes). He also chose our solution for its price.
«We benefited from fast, efficient assistance. Implementation went without trouble.»
Today, trucks simply drive past the OCR system and TREX-CAPTURE automatically records the container number and keeps an image. The one-stop system – developped by Ghana Link Network Services – receives the container numbers for settlement purposes. Our customer no longer need to call in manpower to manually record container numbers to and from ships. So, these non-value-added tasks are left to the automated system.
«To date, our IT development team is still working on fully integrating the container data retrieved by TREX-CAPTURE into our Single Window Solution, including the user interfaces. On average, we register around 150 containers a day. However, our process is certainly already much more efficient, facter and more accurate than the manual system.» says Nabali Bawa.
Résultats
- Faster, more efficient delivery of goods to recipients.
- Improved transparency between all stakeholders; the same information is shared, resulting in cost savings.
- TREX-CONTAINER is accurate in container code recognition: fewer errors, greater efficiency, increased customer confidence.
Today, Ghana Link Network Services is seeking to expand into several African countries. With this in mind, a more extensive partnership with NESTOR TECHNOLOGIES is sure to follow.
In conclusion, we are delighted to contribute to the development of ports such as Port of Banjul, because of the economic, environmental and technical challenges they represent. Given that 80% of goods entering/leaving the country pass through this port, it is of vital importance to the country’s economy.
