PortVision SmartOps(TM) Fleet Management System Streamlines Operations for Liquid Cargo Marine Transportation Companies

HOUSTON, Nov 30, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- PortVision(R), a leading provider of business intelligence solutions for the maritime industry, today announced the SmartOps Fleet Management System, which extends the benefits of the company's AIS-based vessel-tracking system to provide an enterprise resource management system and automate a comprehensive range of unit tow business processes.

SmartOps enables fleet owners and operators to increase revenue, reduce costs and create tighter and more efficient customer relationships, said Dean Rosenberg, PortVision chief executive officer. It is the only system tailored to the specific business processes of liquid cargo marine transportation, and incorporates valuable best practices for improving productivity and efficiency while eliminating paper, reducing errors and minimizing labor. Perhaps most importantly, SmartOps enables unit tow fleet operators to collaborate with their customers not only on traffic updates and other real-time logistics, but also on complex invoicing and regulatory reporting so they can speed approvals while minimizing discrepancies and distractions associated with billing and compliance requirements.

The SmartOps Fleet Management System builds on the foundation of the company's award-winning PortVision platform, which has been adopted by more than 2,000 users including most inland marine fleets and every major oil company. It is designed to automate the full range of unit tow liquid cargo transportation business processes including contract setup, chartering, voyage management, wheelhouse activity logging, automated invoicing, and detailed reporting.

A key SmartOps component is the PortVision Activity Logger (PAL), which is installed in the wheelhouse of each boat. Customers can use the SmartOps touch-screen display or implement the PAL on an existing PC to record events and delays while capturing all necessary information required for invoicing and reporting. All PAL data is shared with the fleet operator's traffic department to ensure that captains, dispatchers, schedulers, traffic managers, and even customers have the most timely and accurate information. The PAL also supports comprehensive 2-way text messaging to-and-from each boat.

The SmartOps invoicing module supports all necessary rules dictating how freight time, demurrage and pass-through services are billed to the customer. Users can incorporate industry-standard demurrage, maintenance and delay criteria into each invoice, along with Waterway taxes and other pass-through expenses. Additionally, users can modify invoices to meet customer-specific requirements, as needed.

SmartOps also automates month-end and year-end reporting, and provides comprehensive support for ExStars, U.S. Army Corps and individual state and waterway reporting compliance requirements. For those fleet operators whose customers use PortVision's TerminalSmart(TM) Dock Management System, the two systems can share data to help fleet owners develop tighter, higher-value relationships with their end customers.

All communications between the wheelhouse and shore-side teams are handled using the PortVision TriMode(TM) system, which combines AIS, cellular and satellite communications with least cost routing to ensure guaranteed message delivery at the lowest cost. Marine transportation companies have reported savings of more than 50% in hardware and airtime costs by using the TriMode system rather than legacy satellite-only solutions.

SmartOps is fully integrated into the PortVision Advantage platform, which provides enhanced visibility, reporting, and alerting of vessel movements and activities. This platform also provides the modular foundation for planned future enterprise capabilities, which will enable PortVision customers to replace disparate systems with a single, comprehensive, fully integrated solution.

Pricing and Availability

PortVision's SmartOps Fleet Management System is available now and includes comprehensive fleet operations management. Personnel and work management modules will be delivered in 2012.

About PortVision

PortVision provides enhanced knowledge and transparency for maritime activities within ports, inland waterways, and oceans. The award-winning PortVision platform provides a variety of enterprise capabilities for optimizing business process at marine terminals, fleets, and related maritime operations. It leverages the company's Web-based PortVision Advantage service, which provides real-time visualization and historical reporting through a data warehouse encompassing more than 15 billion daily vessel movements. The service processes and analyzes over 40 million vessel movements each day, and can be configured to automatically alert users when events of interest occur. Additionally, historical playback and reporting can be used to increase safety, security, efficiency, and market intelligence. PortVision subscribers include all major oil companies, large and small marine service companies, terminals, fleet owners, port authorities, and government agencies. Based in Houston, Texas, PortVision is a service of AIRSIS Inc., a San Diego-based technology company. For more information, visit www.portvision.com or call 1-713-337-3737.

PortVision is a registered trademark of AIRSIS Incorporated. TriMode, SmartOps and TerminalSmart are trademarks of AIRSIS Incorporated.