27/06/13 22:25Port Strategy - Culture clash

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Culture clash18 Jun 2013Promising to cure all ills, the implementation of a TOS canstill be a bitter pill for workers. Stevie Knight reports

“It’s human nature,” Tim Vancampen of ICTSI explains. “Assoon as there’s doubt, there’s regression; as soon assomething doesn’t work as expected, you find people retreatto what they understand: in the case of emerging-marketports, this can be paperwork.”

Getting people used to a new system, especially one that’selectronic, takes time in any place, but this is especially thecase where there isn’t the same level of techno savvy as inEurope or the US.

Mr Vancampen says: “We end up by taking pieces of paperaway from people all day long, so until they’re used to beingrid of the old, bureaucratic burden, there’s a good chance thata sophisticated operating system would be reduced to aregistration record,” he explains.

Mr Vancampen is a veteran of a number of operating systemimplementations, and is about to see his latest for the Port of Toamasina go live in August. Through these processeshe has built up a deep understanding of how the human factor responds to these changes.

He explains that Toamasina is putting in a Navis N4 system, similar to ICTSI’s MICT flagship operation in thePhilippines. “An important reason for this decision is that we can tap into the resources of the mother company:actually we are flying people from here to Manila so that they can get some hands-on experience on a live system –yes, it’s expensive, but less expensive than a breakdown in service later on.”

Problem solver

However, this does not mean that any hiccups wil be completely removed: “I know enough to expect a proportion ofthe port’s employees will be running around confused for the first week, despite all training efforts. So, what I have torely on is the ‘super user’ in every department who really knows what they are doing, and then things will eventuallysettle down.”

Nico Berx of NB Solutions agrees, adding: “You have to let your clients know what is happening, and get them to be alittle indulgent around any go-live date. It works out better for them later on, but you need that initial understanding.”

Mr Vancampen explains that ICTSI employees from Manila are also being flown into Toamasina – also with very goodreason. “Many of the established staff in these ports are over 50 and have been public officials for 20 years or more:as you’d expect they have a sense of seniority. Of course all but a few find the take up of new technology challengingat first, so what we do is find other employees in their peer group that are already familiar with the system, itsworthwhile bringing them over: people do generally learn better from their peers.”

He goes on to admit that however clever the software, his main interest is how people adapt and change. However, aGPS system will also be added to the Toamasina terminal to help give things a nudge in the right direction.

“It’s textbook: ‘inventory integrity’ is everything with an automated TOS and you must be sure about the position ofevery container. However, in places like these keeping track of the boxes often means a lot more discipline and moreindividual accountability than the users are really used to: after all, individualism is a Western idea; here a sense ofcollective accountability is more common.”

Local challenge

However, other places can bring even more of a challenge, says Mr Vancampen: “Some of the staff on a new,

Implementing a sophisticated TOS in an emergingmarket means thinking hard, and investing

upfront, not just in the system but the people

27/06/13 22:25Port Strategy - Culture clash

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greenfield site might not even be familiar with an office, let alone a computerised system, so if I see a guy playing on aPlaystation, I think ‘there’s my planner’...”

“In the end, ICTSI doesn’t accept a lower performance in these countries than in others; we have the same cranes,the same systems, so it’s just a question of getting the best out of everyone. However, the nice thing about ICTSI as acompany is the way we work together across continents, that’s what we are very good at. If you are on your own andcan’t fall back on this kind of relationship, it’s much, much harder.”

Despite all this, Chris Wise of Seawise container planning software developer says that this Western familiarity withcomputers isn’t always a blessing.

He points out that a number of years ago the skill sets in ports were made up of retired seafarers who had a wealth ofhands-on experience. “What we gave them was a container planning tool, but it was always clear that they made thedecisions,” he says.

“However, this has changed, and now when there’s an issue, I often hear people saying ‘but the computer let me doit’.”

Real life

He explains that it’s a tension between flexibility and control. “For example, our system will allow you to make a yardor stowage plan that enters the hazardous boxes first, even if they are, initially, floating without anything underneathbecause they are the most demanding to position: you need to keep them both away from each other and things likesources of heat. Then you ‘place’ the reefers, and after that fill up around them with general cargo.” He adds that in anattempt to be idiot proof, many other systems didn’t allow you to hang a box in the air.

What it has led to is a conundrum, says Mr Wise: “Systems like ours have hoovered up a lot of information from real,hard won experiences – like an option to flip-to if a vessel comes in from starboard instead of port side to the quay.These systems are now the reservoir of all that information, and to an extent it allows ports to put inexperiencedpeople in front of the computer, but you have to realise that just a few percent of the time you need to know more thanjust how to work the PC.

"In the end the user is there to run the programme, the programme is not there to run the user.”

This point leads to another related one, the temptation to see an operating system as the way to answer all ills, saysMr Berx, adding that systems ‘support’ operations, “but won’t fundamentally change them”. So, if a process is wrong,it won’t put it right.

This idea can be the biggest hurdle to even getting as far as implementation. Constantine Sokolov of Solvo explains:“Many start by brainstorming in an attempt to tackle the issue from every angle, holding lengthy discussions andassigning the most experienced and ‘brainy’ employees to categorise and cram all operative matters into one hugeExcel table.” Mr Sokolov adds that the issues around the table itself seem endless.

Mr Berx agrees: “You can build a ‘gas factory’ very easily, it delivers a lot of air but nothing tangible.” He also goes onto say that history can be misleading: “There’s always a number of ‘nice-to-haves’, but generally they don’t get usedbecause they are actually just a habit.”

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27/06/13 22:25Port Strategy - Culture clash

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