Unisys (News - Alert) Corporation announced the successful completion of the “Intelligent Cargo” project with Brazil’s Secretariat of Ports (SEP).

In a release, Steve Soroka, managing partner, Homeland Security, Unisys Federal Systems, said, “The Intelligent Cargo project represents an important step in the standardization of business processes, deployment of on-container tracking devices and sharing of information among stakeholders involved in Brazil's ports logistics chain.”

According to officials, the study was launched to monitor cargo operations and improve the import, export and navigation processes at Brazilian maritime ports and logistics chains. The study has suggested several improvements that will help save time spent on export logistics chain operations by approximately 47 percent.

The recommendations are expected to reduce the logistics chain’s operational costs by around 62 percent. This was revealed by the activity-based cost benefit analysis conducted jointly by SEP and Unisys.

The “Intelligent Cargo” project was launched last year and since then Unisys has provided SEP with in-depth analysis of its operations in Brazil. Also it provided an assessment of best practices that are to be followed in order to improve import and export procedures and systems, said officials.

Unisys was able to locate several areas in which improvements could be made with respect to port operations. Unisys suggested ways and means to improve coordination between the organizations that are responsible for cargo processing and inspection. It also recommended a decrease in the redundancy and waste that result out of paper-based manual processes.

Unisys emphasized on an increase in sharing of data, using e-mails and telecommunication between parties involved in the logistics chain and leveraging the existing port and logistics chain infrastructure capabilities more.

Officials explained that Intelligent Cargo is a module of SEP’s “Ports without Paper” initiative, which was launched to simplify port procedures and reduce the amount of time cargo and ships spend in Brazilian ports. This is expected to improve the sharing of cargo data and increase the efficiency of import and export operations.

Unisys leveraged its experience in secure technology such as radio frequency identification (RFID) to monitor, track and secure container devices and electronic seals for cargo shipments.

In related company news the State of Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget has awarded a contract to Unisys to build and maintain a new child welfare services system to serve the needs of thousands of children and social workers in Michigan.