Port of Houston Authority Signs with Navis LLC

PHA Chooses Navis WebAccess to Enhance Customer Service by Providing Real-time Online Access to its Terminal Operating System

OAKLAND, CA (PRWEB) April 22, 2004 -- Navis LLC, leading provider of information technology solutions that manage and optimize the flow of goods within and between facilities in the supply chain, announced today that the Port of Houston Authority (PHA) will implement Navis WebAccess for their terminal community portal.

PHA plans to enhance their customer service offering by providing terminal constituents with real-time access to key information through Navis WebAccess. Shipping lines, truckers and agents will also conduct transactions and business processes over the web including:

- Creating and managing bookings
- Managing customs, agricultural and line holds
- Querying container and equipment availability
- Confirming chassis inventory
- Viewing container details and history
- Creating and managing equipment orders
- Viewing vessel load and discharge lists, schedules and ships on berth
- Running customizable reports for booking, equipment and gate transactions

Navis WebAccess will be integrated with PHAs current terminal operating system through the Navis Third Party Host Interface. The Third Party Host Interface allows terminals to utilize their current terminal operating system and preserve their investment while still enhancing functionality.

As part of PHAs long-term strategy, PHA is upgrading legacy technology built in-house 25 years ago. Navis WebAccess is the first in a series of projects to modernize their systems by providing a contemporary Web interface to the terminal data. This allows PHA to extend the life of their current terminal operating system.
Jeff Davis, Container Operations Manager at the Port of Houston Authority stated, Navis WebAccess significantly upgrades the way our customers, mainly the shipping lines, interact with the port. The terminal community portal addresses their needs by providing better access and more power to manipulate and extract data from the host system. The system will save our customers a lot of time."

We are delighted the Port of Houston Authority has chosen Navis to help them scale their technology," said Mr. John Dillon, CEO of Navis. What were seeing in the market is that customers such as PHA require their new investments work with existing infrastructure, and that those solutions provide immediate value."

About Navis LLC
Headquartered in Oakland, California, Navis is a global leader in providing enterprise software solutions for the cargo transportation and logistics industry. In 36 countries Navis products have helped increase the profitability of moving all types of cargo within and between transfer facilities by encompassing the entire workflow of each operation in a comprehensive, real-time information system.

The Navis product suite serves all sizes of marine, rail and depot terminals, shipping lines, distribution centers and vessel tonnage centers, and handles all manner of cargo including container, conventional and RO/RO vehicles. The company's products consist of Navis SPARCS, Navis Express, Navis WebAccess, Navis PowerStow, Navis Depot and Navis DC Flow Management. Each product provides Navis customers with the detailed information they need to maximize their operational performance, while providing the conduit to expedite vital commercial transactions between parties in the supply chain via the Internet.

About Port of Houston Authority
The Port of Houston Authority owns and operates the public facilities located along the Port of Houston, the 25-mile long complex of diversified public and private facilities designed for handling general cargo, containers, grain and other dry bulk materials, project and heavy lift cargo, and other types of cargo. Each year, more than 6,600 vessels call at the port, which ranks first in the U.S. in foreign waterborne tonnage, second in overall total tonnage, and sixth largest in the world. The Port Authority plays a vital role in ensuring navigational safety along the Houston Ship Channel, which has been instrumental in Houstons development as a center of international trade. The Barbours Cut Container Terminal and Central Maintenance Facility are the first of any U.S. port facilities to develop and implement an innovative Environmental Management System that meets the rigorous standards of ISO 14001. Additionally, the port is an approved delivery point for Coffee C" futures contracts traded on the New York Board of Trades Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange. For more information, please visit www.portofhouston.com.