The Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal in New Orleans LA has installed a new gate entry management system (Napoleon-GEM) that has markedly improved terminal efficiency and smoothed traffic and container flow.
Since the trial began Nov 10, 2003, the system has remained fully operational, and the terminal has been processing more than 900 transactions per day with 75% less yard space.
The result of teamwork between P&O Ports, Ceres Gulf, and NC Cuthbert, Napoleon-GEM is a web-based application that integrates P&O's and Ceres' two terminal management systems with those used to operate devices installed at the gate and in the container terminal. These devices include TransCore transponder tag readers, optical character recognition cameras, and ticket printers installed in the terminal gate's entrance and exit lanes.
To gain entry to the new terminal, each truck is fitted with a transponder tag that is read at various points along the truck route. These RFID tags provide the terminal management systems with information about the truck (such as vehicle identification number and license plate), the company it serves, and its purpose at the terminal. Truck company dispatchers use the web to schedule truck visits.
As soon as a truck arrives, it is told where to go and what to do by a combination of AM radio broadcasts, messages to the driver's cell phone, wall-mounted video displays, and printed tickets. This eliminates long waits at the gate.
