ICTSI flags off $930,000 investments in IT, infrastructure in Papua New Guinea
Barely seven months after dumping Nigeria, ICTSI has not only begin operation in Papua New Guinea, but is set to inject well over $930,000 in terminal’s Information Technology and related infrastructural development.
It would be recalled that the firm which signed up for the Lekki project in 2012 had angrily pulled out form the deal £on grounds of endless wait for official approval for takeoff of development activities in Lekki Deep Seaport scheme.
The ICTSI South Pacific International Container Terminal (SPICT) commenced operations at the Lae Tidal Basin (LTB) in Lae, Papua New Guinea (PNG) July 2017.
Part of a statement the company issued on May 26, 201 on leaving Nigeria said in parts: “The parties arrived at this decision following delays in the execution of the Lekki Port Project”.
Shortly after announcing its withdrawal from Nigeria, SPICT, a subsidiary of ICTSI received an approval from Papua New Guinea to commence operation in the Oceania country.
Part of its new concession agreement, shows that SPICT will begin the transition by rolling out the terminal’s new operating system, Navis N4.
The system, the first of its kind in PNG, is expected to quickly streamline the flow of information at Lae’s international container terminal and increase seaside and landside productivity levels. ICTSI South Pacific’s investment in IT systems and infrastructure is expected to exceed PGK 3 million (around USD 930,000) this year, the terminal operator said.
SPICT will be rolling out the system’s modules and orienting port users at Lae while handling all international cargo at the LTB and the dedicated second berth in Lae old wharf.
It is expected that a full suite of modules will be operational and ready in time for the arrival of SPICT’s mobile harbor cranes (MHCs) in April. The MHCs will further boost productivity levels at Lae and deliver improved vessel handling capabilities, according to the company.
Christian Gonzalez, ICTSI head of Asia Pacific, averred that “We believe that the benefits of automating processes and information flow will accrue to each and every one of the ports users very quickly. We anticipate further benefits from delivering the MHCs to the site and look forward to seeing a continuous improvement in operations at SPICT from the deployment of the TOS to achieving the first MHC move in the near term”.
