The Bureau of Customs Port of Cebu — through its Piers and Inspection Division — has recently launched the Automated Boarding Assignment Management System — a homegrown innovation of the Port of Cebu.

The agency explained that ABAMS is a web-based system of assigning boarding teams to incoming foreign vessels which also ensures fast and convenient boarding assignment, departing from traditional manual assignment using roulette.

The system features the automatic and random assignment of boarding teams, real-time updates on boarding assignments including personnel and vessel status, approval of requests by the Deputy District Collector for Operations, generation of electronic copy of assignment orders, automatic notification of assignments to members of the Boarding Team via short message service and uploading of reports upon completion of boarding formalities.

In line with the vision of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of a digital Philippines and his directive to transition to technology-enabled governance, the Port of Cebu, with the guidance of Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz, continues to implement good governance initiatives and employ automation and digital solutions in its systems and processes.