Caofeidian Harbor Dispatch and Management Information System Design

Abstract

Caofeidian (CFD) is located at the southern coast of Tangshan and the central area of Bohai Bay. Approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China, modern logistics is one of the five major industries included in the CFD Industrial Zone Development Plan. Being part of the supply chain, harbor dispatch and management operation plays an essential role affecting the economy of CFD. Based on an initial interview with our client, the CFD Government, the need for the Harbour Dispatch and Management Information System (HDMIS) has been identified as a high priority aiming to improve the harbor traffic efficiency and safety.

The project started by conducting background research on CFD, logistic operations, port management and the related information system (IS). Within the scope of this project, our team investigated the current vessel traffic situation and operation flows through a residential trip to CFD and on-site interviews with stakeholders. Understanding the current challenges in CFD harbor dispatch operation, we found that the complicated information flow and manual operation process could be improved by the application of IS. Based on past academic researches, case studies on leading ports around the world and Business Process Reengineering (BPR) principles, we recommend the HDMIS should be a centralized platform to simplify the operation, improve information sharing and increase the controllability of the port operations. Facilitating the information flow between the upstream and downstream should benefit the overall efficiency of the supply chain. On the management level, the HDMIS could provide also statistic figures to evaluate operation performance and provide decision support for port development planning. Finally, an implementation action plan is presented as a guideline for CFD government to implement the system successfully.