The main ports of Mexico are inaugurating a new era in their march towards digitization, process control, and against cyber risks, from the implementation of the new system: Intelligent and Safe Port (PIS). The tool is a more advanced heir of the Paperless Ports Program (PSP), implemented for at least a decade by most of the 16 commercial, industrial and tourist ports in the country (that is, 80% of the so-called National Port System). reported Info-Transport.

If the forecasts come true, it will be during 2023 when this tool will be fully available to the SPN at a technological and intelligent level, as announced since the beginning of 2022, by the Coordinator of Ports and Merchant Marine of Semar, high seas captain Ana Laura López Bautista .

The PIS is an integral technological platform installed in each Port System Administration, López Bautista announced in various forums throughout 2022. Said system was initially developed at a technological level in the port of Manzanillo, and due to its effectiveness it was initially extended to Veracruz and then to another 14 venues.

This instrument allows to record the control of people, vehicles and cargo that enter the port premises and to carry out efficient procedures of operational processes, said Sergio Quiñones Rosales, vice president of the Manzanillo Port Community (Copoma).

The PIS is also part of a trend and of the international demand to have greater controls for trade, the prevention of arms, drug and illegal cargo trafficking, in whose vigilance the International Maritime Organization (IMO), dependent on of United Nations. It also responds to new requirements of the International Code for the Security of Ships and Port Facilities (PBIP), governed by the IMO.

Details of the operation 

The Secure Intelligent System operates based on a cybersecurity and cyber resistance model with four components:

• Anticipate: by looking for external cyber threats to prevent sensitive data and operations from being leaked and becoming public domain on the Internet; with this, weaknesses are also identified and corrective actions are implemented.
• Resist: Simulations of attacks against your applications are constantly carried out to identify security breaches.
• Recover: by prioritizing the development of capacities to be able to investigate cybersecurity incidents and have response procedures.
• Evolve: based on international standards that evaluate the countermeasures to be implemented in the infrastructure; The necessary changes are made for the correct functioning of the system.

At the same time, it seeks to reinforce a cybersecurity strategy, as a guarantee of safe and simple management of the operational processes between the authorities and the users of the port community.

Given its great benefits when using the port infrastructure to its maximum capacity, it improves efficiency in logistics, environmental forecasts and commercial relations with the interior of the country.

The PIS is directed at the same time to give certainty to operations, security and traceability to people, vehicles and cargo, while favoring technologies, reducing the use of paper and contributing to a better flow of the requirements of all the actors in the chain. Logistics.

"The digital platform generates the 'new gold' that is data and allows, in real time, to know the traceability of the shipments of merchandise and goods made by the importer and exporter," said Quiñones, who is also vice president of the National Association of Importers and Exporters of the Mexican Republic (Anierm).

The digitalization of the documents speeds up the application of the e-check, while the reading of the QR Code quickly recognizes whether or not the maritime and port procedures are authorized. And, consequently, it authorizes the entry of cargo to ports that have the PIS system.

In addition, it links all commercial actors, terminals, shipping companies, customs agents, port service providers, modes of transport, which are directly or indirectly involved in the thousands of import and export operations.

The axis of security are the master databases of companies, people, vehicles, transport and operators, based on manuals and support material for their respective procedures.

It also has the following: Operation Manuals for the Safe Smart Port System, from registration to the PIS System, personnel and credentialing, users, vehicle modules, operators, transportation, and permits.

So far the PIS has been adopted in the ports of LC, Vallarta, Chiapas, Dos Bocas, Altamira, Tuxpan, Progreso, Guaymas, Manzanillo, Tampico, Veracruz, Topolobampo, Mazatlán, Ensenada, Salina Cruz, Coatzacoalcos.