POMTOC improvements will double throughput

POMTOC improvements will double throughput $4.5 million improvement project at the Port of Miami Terminal Operating Company (POMTOC) will effectively double the terminal's landside throughput by April.
   Port of Miami and POMTOC officials Thursday held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new gate system at the terminal, and POMTOC officials said the new gates are simply the most obvious element in a technology-centered improvement program. The new gates will be state-of-the-art unmanned gates, with 16 high-tech gates replacing the current 16 gates into the common user terminal.
   POMTOC senior vice president and general manager John Ballestero said related improvements will include installation of communications towers that will allow the use of handheld cargo tracking equipment. An extensive underground fiber optics network that will significantly improve communications capabilities is also being installed.

POMTOC senior vice president and general manager John Ballestero outlines a $4.5 million improvement project that will double landside throughput.

   Ballestero added that the new gates and communications infrastructure will allow POMTOC to get maximum use out of the Tideworks terminal management software suites that POMTOC has been using. While the Tideworks systems have been effective, the latest changes will give POMTOC container yard management capabilities on a par with any other port in the nation.
   He said the changes will also improve the security technology at the terminal and allow POMTOC to better communicate security information with the Port of Miami security systems.
   Ballestero said the new gates will allow POMTOC to move 3,200 trucks in a 10-hour day, up from the current capacity of 1,600 trucks. He added that POMTOC alone will have the capacity to handle 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units of containerized cargo a year.
   Port director Bill Johnson said the port is committed to working closely with all its terminal operators and port users to continue to increase throughput and operating efficiencies, and praised POMTOC for its improvements.
   The Port of Miami also has terminals operated by the Maersk affiliate APM Terminals and by Seaboard Marine. POMTOC handles an estimated 55 percent of all containerized cargo at the port.