Pic: Reading Objects: BIC + ISO Codes, License Plate and Seals Detection.
As part of its digitalization and modernization strategy, BMF Port Burgas invested in Gate Automation Technology for its Advance Container Terminal Burgas / ACT Burgas /in order to cover the whole process: from OCR access control to data management along Terminal Operating System. In this context DSP and AllRead collaborated closely together.
BMF Port Burgas, a private operator of the 'Burgas East-2' and 'Burgas West' terminals, located in Burgas Bay on the Black Sea Coast, is continuously enhancing its Container Terminal, ACT Burgas. With the acquisition of new modern equipment and advanced technology, BMF Port Burgas is increasing capacity, improving efficiency and ensuring that Burgas operates at the highest standards of modern European ports. A new deep-water berth is currently being constructed for ACT Burgas with 15,5 m depth and ca. 54.000 sqm adjacent specialized uncovered yard for handling and storage of containers. With the new berth being operational mid-2025, ACT Burgas will boost its capacity to 350.000 TEU per annum.
Having as a beacon the customer's vision the collaboration between DSP and ALLRead has been a success. DSP was in charge of integrating the AllRead OCR with NAVIS N4 and all existing Processes in ACT Burgas. This included configuration, testing, field extensions, optimisation, and go-live support services, including localised training courses so that their management teams are up and running as quickly as possible. Highly involved and hands on, the IT team of ACT Burgas lead the acquisition and installation of hardware infrastructure (cameras, lighting servers...), following AllReads technical requirements and recommendations. The system went live in June 2024, once achieved the expected metrics (above 97% accuracy) and satisfactory tests with the TOS and barriers.
Technical insight - The system has been installed to control outbound traffic representing 500 to 1000 daily crossings. The goal of ACT Burgas is to increase its efficiency and productivity in its gate out control process, formerly executed manually. The system detects and reads the truck license plates and associates them with the Containers on the trailer. To improve security, the presence of seals on the container is detected as well. At each transit, the License plate is consolidated in real time with the NAVIS N4, to ensure the exit is authorized, and complete the TOS with the remaining Container & Seal data, before opening the gate. In case of discrepancy, an error message is sent and human intervention required.
Expert comments
“The adoption of last generation technology is a must have for a modern container terminal to stay competitive and offer top quality service to its customers. Gate Operations are perfect candidate for process automation and digitalization. DSP mission is to integrate smoothly best technological solutions like Allread OCR and NAVIS N4 TOS with the operating procedures” said Marco Fehmer DSP CEO “advising the customer at 360° including project management and solution design.”
Adriaan Landman, COO at AllRead, commented: “Container Terminals like ACT Burgas show growing willingness to adopt collaborative approaches involving various partners in digitalization projects, beeing themselves an active player, instead of spectators of turnkey implementations”.
“Here at BMF Port Burgas, we are actively embracing cutting-edge technologies to enhance our operations and improve efficiency," said Nikola Chomakov, Operations Manager, ACT Burgas. "We believe that AI-driven solutions are key to staying competitive in today’s logistics landscape. We selected DSP and ALLRead to implement gate automation at our Outgate, optimizing cargo flow and reducing turnaround times. We are confident that this partnership will further elevate our service quality and align us with the highest industry standards”.