It’s already been a fantastic year for Port of Tyne who were named Port Operator of the Year at the prestigious Lloyd’s list London awards in April, competing against many leading ports around the globe. The award is recognition of the success they have achieved as a result of sustained effort over the last few years with careful and continued investment in both people and technology, along with a focused approach to customer service. Moreover, it comes hot on the heels of the Institute of Transport Management’s accolade of European Port of the Year for the second successive year, confirming Port of Tyne’s position as an absolute World Class leader in global logistics and supply chain solutions.

ATMS have been working with Port of Tyne for a number of years as the supplier of their StockTrack PLUS (STP) warehouse management system and are very proud to congratulate them on these superb achievements. During the past decade Port of Tyne has invested in state-of-the-art systems that will take them into the future and enable them to provide an outstanding level of customer service whilst increasing the range and variety of products being stored and handled at the port. Currently these include retail electronic equipment, furniture, packaging, clothing, food and drink including spirits. Securely stored in purpose-built warehouses and tracked throughout the operation. From the moment they arrive portside, customers are reassured that their goods are in safe hands. The port prides itself on the caliber of their highly-trained staff which means that any one individual can take control of goods as they arrive and oversee offloading, delivery to a container terminal or movement direct into storage within the warehouse. Each member of staff has a good appreciation of their individual responsibilities and the necessity for teamwork, whilst STP uses the latest radio data terminals to ensure that all transactions are updated in real time and that communication of all activities is instant. The Dashboard facility provides a live snapshot of all current and outstanding tasks across the warehouses so that resources can be directed promptly to wherever they are needed.

With over 20 sheds containing more than 50,000 square metres of high-security customs approved warehousing and 53,000 racked pallet spaces, tracking, traceability and stock visibility are of major importance for Port of Tyne. Their policy is to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ for their customers and in addition to storage and handling of products they offer a wide range of value added services including re-packing, palletizing, labelling and direct distribution. The benefits are huge in terms of savings to their customers as goods can be imported in bulk and moved through to the next stage in the supply chain without actually leaving the site! Clearly, reducing mileage is good for the environment and, with the rising cost of fuel, it makes economic sense to reduce unnecessary journeys wherever possible. Delays are minimized and customers are happy with the prompt and efficient service. Indeed, the impact can clearly be demonstrated as the business saw a 32% increase in its customer base within a six-month period during 2007

ATMS’ Managing Director, Stephen Cross said ‘Port of Tyne is an ideal partner because they are continually pushing the boundaries of their business and evaluating the dynamics and efficiency of their operation. The feedback we get from them, and other key ATMS customers, is invaluable and means we have the expert knowledge to develop STP to ensure that it delivers actual, measurable benefits in the real world of global logistics. We don’t just aim to achieve short-term paybacks but work in partnership with our customers to look at long term gains and to guarantee that STP will maintain its position as a world-class supply chain solution. It’s a perfect win-win situation.’

Port of Tyne are currently deploying the latest version of STP and also use the optional charging module to record and report on warehouse activities and value added services. Continuous round the clock system availability with 100% uptime is vital to the port’s operations. Disaster prevention (rather than the less robust disaster recovery) is the order of the day for the port.  In order to achieve this ATMS implemented Fathom replication and management which provides mirroring of the system across two identical servers, safeguarding data down to the last transaction. The next phase is to upgrade Webspeed (another STP module) to give them additional visibility and enable their clients to directly place orders and call-offs on to the system. With such a large site to manage, the new Dock and Yard Manager module will also prove a positive addition to their current solution.

Ian Gibson, General Manager, Warehousing, commented ‘We’ve grown steadily as a result of strategic planning and investment and, having reached this phenomenal level of success, our goal now is to continue moving forwards and to build on our achievements. We see good communication with our own staff, listening to the needs of our customers, and working hand-in-hand with our systems suppliers as essential to keeping our position as a world leader in global logistics.’