An evaluation of ICT infrastructure and ICT familiarity of operational staff in container terminals

Abstract

It is important tor container terminal operators and administrators to understand the key factors influencing the productivity due to competitive nature of the business. Growing competition among container terminal has forced the container terminal management to develop competitive strategies to attract and retain their customer base. The shipping Alliances that have tremendous command over selection of seaports always set standards and expect very high productivity indicators and service level. The shipping lines and freight forwarders always demand faster response, on-line data availability, online billing and online payments. It is therefore important to have these functions be processed and managed by using an infrastructure with proper Information and Communication Technology (ICT). For the port of Colombo as it is facing severe competition from the seaports in the South Asian region and ports in Far East and Persian Gulf, it is extremely important to have the seaports facilities to meet international standards. At the same time emergence of new terminals, construction of new generation ships, mergers and alliances of shipping lines are also happening. This dissertation analyzes the implementation level of information technologies used in some of the container ports in the region as well as in Sri Lanka. The operating staffs' IT skill is one the factor for productivity since they have to interact with sophisticated ICT systems. It is important to study the actual impact of this factor to the performance of the terminal. The research compares the effect of ICT and IT skills to final productivity in two container terminal in Sri Lanka. It was not found any research done on this area and this is a useful area for future research.