Above: Darryl Duke.

Over the past few months, digitisation and digitalisation efforts have escalated across several industries, areas, and government operations in Trinidad and Tobago. The recent announcement by The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on the implementation and maintenance of a Port Community System (PCS) has been welcomed by stakeholders and several Ministries and branches  of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago that interface with the air and sea ports across the country. A cornerstone of this crucial deployment is the involvement of the native telecommunications and technology provider, TSTT. Through its business-to-business arm, bmobile Business, the company will provide all Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IAAS) needs for the project.

The PCS is a single open electronic platform that enables faster and more secure exchanges of information between public and private stakeholders in the port community. The current port, airport, shipping, logistics and trade operations in the country comprise the MTI’s TTBizLink (the Single Electronic Window or SEW for Trade and Business Facilitation), the Border Management System (AYSCUDA World) utilised by the Customs and Excise Division and the NAVIS Terminal Operating System used by all major ports.

The PCS complements these systems, neither replacing nor competing with them, but will usher in a new aspect of interoperability and data sharing, resulting in several significant benefits to T&T’s trade operations. SOGET, a global Port Community System (PCS) leader with a strong expertise in Europe, Africa, the far east and the Caribbean, was chosen by the MTI to implement the PCS deployment over the next 24 months at all major air and sea ports. Recognising the need for a major technology and telecommunications partner, SOGET established a strategic partnership with bmobile Business, a testament to the expertise and capabilities of both organisations.

SOGET’s Hervé Cornède

Hervé Cornède, CEO of SOGET, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership with bmobile business, stating, “We are pleased to sign this strategic partnership with bmobile Business, the country’s largest communications solutions provider. This collaboration allows us to place our collaborative platform at the heart of cutting-edge digital solutions for Trinidad and Tobago’s port and logistics communities, reinforcing our commitment to delivering industry-leading technological innovation.”

bmobile business will offer virtualisation, storage, redundancy, and overall computing needs to make the project a reality. The company’s Mausica Data Centre will be critical to this. This state-of-the-art facility is TIA-942-B Rated 3 certified. It boasts a SOC Type 2 designation, making it the only data centre in the area with such a comprehensive certification for facilities and operations.

It also has ISO27001 certification – the world’s best-known standard for information security management systems (ISMS). It covers the needs of the PCS implementation, including management of risks related to the security of data owned or handled by the company on behalf of SOGET and all the government services that will be centralised through the PCS.

Darryl Duke, Assistant Vice President of Business Sales, TSTT, is pleased bmobile business remains at the forefront of TT’s digital initiatives. “Implementing the PCS will herald a new era of trade facilitation for every stakeholder that interacts in any way with any of our ports. While there will be increased speed, greater efficiency, improved data and metrics and a leaner supply chain when this project comes on-stream, there are countless other benefits, including reduced cost of operations for State entities and greater environmental impacts from going paperless to lower carbon emissions from improved port operations.”

Noting that bmobile business is the only company in the region that could indeed facilitate this partnership with SOGET, he added, “Our data centre is a beacon of operational excellence in Trinidad and Tobago, providing world-class data services attuned to the highest global certifications and standards and serviced by incredibly talented operations and management teams that are a testament to the capabilities that we’ve developed with our own people.”

The importance of the PCS is underscored by a 2018 Inter-American Development Bank study, which identified deficiencies in local port operations that increase costs along the supply chain. With the PCS, Trinidad and Tobago aims to improve its global competitiveness, reducing the time and cost for imports and exports, and enhancing the overall efficiency of port operations.

With the PCS project through SOGET, with the facilitation of technology, data and telecommunications support by bmobile Business, the resulting interoperability between current port management systems will be noticeable to all clients and users of the ports through reduced wait times, improved technological facilitation and less paperwork and faster, streamlined processes. With a more significant reduction in bottlenecks and inefficiencies at the ports, the overall attractiveness of the ports across T&T will benefit those stakeholders directly and the broader national community through greater trade facilitation.