A. General Information
Morpheus.Network-Port Operations Solution
B. Lessons Learned
Port operators worldwide face a variety of challenges due to poor infrastructure, involvement of intermediaries, overdependence on manpower, use of complicated technology, and lack of professional support.
We have partnered with Gulftainer, one of the largest privately-owned port operators globally, to redefine the future of the shipping and logistics industry. We are helping Gulftainer automate its shipping operations through our Trusted Information Flows. Our fully digital middleware creates an end-to-end supply chain with greater resilience, reliability, and less risk, helping us fulfill our initial objective of making Gulftainer’s port function in an automated and optimized fashion. The goal is to deliver effective, fairer, and more sustainable commerce.
Traditionally, port operators have relied heavily on manual operations. As the global economy opened after the Covid-induced economic crisis, shipping operators faced several challenges, including port congestion that led to long delays.
We help port operators automate their operations to reduce dependency on intermediaries. Shipping companies can integrate our customizable solution to eliminate the factors leading to congestion or delays. Our platform creates 360° visibility for optimizing and automating supply chains to save time and money. This is accomplished by connecting data from various IT systems in order to automate supply chain activity. Our port solution implementation connects data from the Terminal Operating System (“TOS”) regarding the containers on a container ship to the Transport Management System (“TMS”) to coordinate final delivery via transport of the containers to avoid all port congestion.
The solution covers all processes around the delivery of goods (finished products or raw materials) from point A to B. This includes document validation, cross-border transactions, and the generation of invoices.
Our platform is uniquely positioned as middleware - we connect various organizations (like Shipping Lines, Transporters, Consignees, Customs and Port Authorities) and integrate with existing systems (ERPs such as SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and Oracle).
We do not require clients to replace their current technology stack and legacy systems. We integrate with the current architecture (e.g. ERP or Accounting systems) through APIs without vendor lock-in. All solutions are cloud-based and low-code / no-code to augment existing processes with emerging technologies and create an end-to-end machine-readable data lake without requiring users to become software engineers.
Architecture: Custom for various ports based on current infrastructure and IT systems. The usual integrations to connect various data sources (eliminating data silots) are Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”), TOS and TMS systems.
All data pulled from the original PO or work order from the ERP is to be used universally for the solution. This includes customs clearance document exchange (eg. bill of lading, certificate of origin).
The data exchange also connects the various stakeholders in a given supply chain (data from shipper/consignor, shipping line, customs brokers, and customs clearance officials.
All the data models are brought in through the Morpheus.Network middleware platform. With various integrated IT systems (TOS, ERP, TMS etc..), the middleware creates a hybrid of data feed pushing automation from all systems in usage.
Getting all the stakeholders involved in the solution was the greatest challenge. Now that we have forged a solid partnership with Gulftainer, our solution is battle tested. We can now implement the solution for any shipping operator across the globe.
Manual processes like coordinated smooth final delivery of shipping line containers as well as physical documentation play a major role in shipment delays. Automating these processes can help shipping companies with the timely delivery of shipments.
All of the above. Automation of physical processes helps shipping operators save a lot of time, enabling faster delivery of goods to customers and enhancing customer satisfaction. Also, businesses can access raw materials in time to streamline the production process.
1. Port Operator API Hub
Together with Gulftainer, we have developed an API hub that allows port operators to connect their TMS, terminal operating system and ERP, bringing all data into one system. It allows operators to automate end-to-end port processes and increase efficiency by streamlining multiple previously separated data silos.
The result is full transparency over every action along operations, increasing forecasting accuracy and making operations and data exchange with external providers easier. Paired with external APIs to shippers, customs, and other service providers we remove redundancies and manual cross- referencing inefficiencies.
2. Fully automated and digitized document management system
A self-service portal frontend is paired with an integrated document handling system to enable simple collaboration between various stakeholders to digitize, exchange, sign and validate shipping
documents and certificates. We store a unique identifier of every certificate on our blockchain backend, creating provenance and trust in documents with records of creation, author, access, signage trail and revision logs. We use an IPFS system to offer a fully automated certificate management system, replacing largely manual processes to scan, validate, process and track certifications. Integrated notification and data exchange functions allow swift interactions between involved parties.
3. Cross-Border Compliance System
Our document handling solutions enable immutable documentation for cross-border shipments and bring all handling stages into a digital format. We can integrate any regional customs broker API to streamline operations. For America, we have a standing partnership with Customs Direct – a U.S.Customs Broker where all documentation can be generated and attached directly to the order/supply chain workflow and easily exchanged between all parties. With integrated OCR scanning and signage tools like DocuSign, we transfer the document landscape into machine-readable information.
No
Deeper integration with shipping companies
Wider Coverage: Asia, Europe, South America
Technical advancement
References can be provided upon engagement.