In today’s fast-evolving maritime logistics and port operations landscape, choosing the right terminal operating system (TOS) can determine the efficiency, scalability, and profitability of terminal operations. Once they have identified a requirement for a TOS, bulk ports will often weigh up the decision between implementing a commercial, off-the-shelf solution like TBA’s CommTrac, or invest in the time-consuming and resource-intensive process of building a bespoke in-house system.
This article explores the critical differences, advantages, and trade-offs between TBA’s CommTrac (a mature, industry-proven terminal operating system) and a custom-built, proprietary system tailored internally by terminal operators.
Overview of CommTrac
CommTrac is a bulk and general cargo TOS developed by TBA Group. CommTrac has been deployed at numerous sites worldwide and optimises operations across key cargo-handling activities including vessel operations, yard planning, inventory control, gate management, and reporting.
With decades of maritime logistics expertise embedded in its architecture, CommTrac offers configuration flexibility without the need for extensive custom coding, allowing for rapid deployment and ongoing support.
The bespoke approach
An in-house developed system is tailored from the ground up to meet the specific operational needs of a terminal. Typically built by a dedicated IT team, either internal or through contracted developers, these systems reflect the workflows, business rules, and integration requirements unique to a specific terminal or port group.
While custom systems can offer highly specific functionality and tightly-aligned workflows, they also come with significant challenges in design, maintenance, and scalability.
Key comparison areas
We are going to examine seven key comparison areas: development time/cost; functionality and domain expertise; integration and interoperability; scalability and future-proofing; support and maintenance; customisation and flexibility; and risk management.
1. Development time and cost
- CommTrac: As a ready-to-deploy solution, CommTrac offers significantly faster implementation. Depending on the complexity and customisation level, deployment can be completed in months. The costs are predictable, usually structured as licensing fees, implementation services, and support contracts.
- In-house system: Development timelines for custom systems can extend from 12 months to several years. Initial costs are often underestimated, especially when factoring in project delays, scope creep, and post-launch bug fixes. Ongoing costs include maintenance, system upgrades, and developer retention.
Verdict: CommTrac has a clear advantage in cost predictability and time-to-market.
2. Functionality and Domain Expertise
- CommTrac: The system is built with decades of operational know-how and feedback from ports globally. It includes best practices and standard functionality for a wide variety of cargo types, vessel handling scenarios, and terminal operations. CommTrac’s modular architecture also supports automation and analytics.
- In-house system: While custom solutions can be perfectly tailored to a terminal’s current needs, they often lack the breadth of features seen in commercial platforms unless heavily resourced. Domain expertise must be cultivated internally, and there is a risk of functionality becoming outdated as industry standards evolve.
Verdict: The in-house team may be able to precisely map the terminal requirements and built software to meet those needs, but CommTrac benefits from embedded domain knowledge and optimal workflows built over 20 years. It is difficult for the in-house team to replicate this knowledge without significant experience and time.
3. Integration and Interoperability
- CommTrac: Supports integration with ERP systems, gate control, weighbridges, OCR, RFID, and other IoT-enabled devices. Its API and middleware layers are built to handle industry-standard data formats and communication protocols.
- In-house system: Integration capability depends entirely on the skillset and foresight of the development team. Custom integrations are often rigid and require frequent reworking when upstream or downstream systems change.
Verdict: CommTrac’s proven interoperability reduces the risk and cost of integration over time.
4. Scalability and future-proofing
- CommTrac: Designed to scale from single-terminal to multi-terminal or port group operations, CommTrac can scale as required. Updates and enhancements from our R&D roadmap are rolled out regularly, ensuring compliance with evolving industry standards and technologies like AI and automation.
- In-house system: Scaling an in-house system often requires substantial redevelopment. There is a risk that the architecture, originally designed for smaller or less complex operations, cannot accommodate future growth or innovation.
Verdict: CommTrac provides a more reliable path to scale and adapt to future needs.
5. Support and Maintenance
- CommTrac: TBA offers comprehensive support, including SLAs, 24/7 help desks, and upgrade paths. Ongoing maintenance and bug fixes are handled by a dedicated team, removing operational overhead from the terminal operator.
- In-house system: Maintenance relies on the internal IT team or contracted developers. If staff turnover occurs or institutional knowledge is lost, system support becomes a critical risk. Additionally, upgrades can be expensive and disruptive.
Verdict: CommTrac provides long-term peace of mind with professional support, a stable upgrade path and measurable service level agreements.
6. Customization and Flexibility
- CommTrac: While it is a configurable system rather than fully custom, CommTrac offers a balance of structured workflows and customizable modules. It supports terminal-specific rules and user-defined workflows without altering core code.
- In-house system: Offers full flexibility to tailor every function and user interface. However, this flexibility comes at the cost of complexity, testing burden, and potentially lower stability if changes are not properly managed.
Verdict: In-house systems win on ultimate flexibility, but CommTrac strikes a more sustainable balance between customisation and system integrity.
7. Risk Management
- CommTrac: The commercial nature of the software reduces operational risk through regular testing, industry benchmarking, and version control. Business continuity features, including disaster recovery options, are also part of the package.
- In-house system: Custom systems are more vulnerable to individual errors, limited testing coverage, and lack of independent validation. Mitigating risk requires robust internal governance, which not all terminals can afford to maintain.
Verdict: CommTrac’s reliability and track record help de-risk operational reliance on software.
Conclusion: Which is better?
The choice between CommTrac and an in-house developed system depends heavily on an organisation’s size, resources, operational complexity, and strategic goals.
- For most terminals, CommTrac offers a faster, more reliable, and cost-effective path to modern digital operations.
- For larger terminal operators with substantial IT budgets and very unique requirements, an in-house system may make sense - if they are willing to take on the long-term responsibility for development, support, and evolution.
In reality, a bespoke TOS can be a huge burden for terminals to support, and limit their future plans, as TBA Doncaster’s Managing Director, Chris Hicks, explains:
“Over the years, we have had experiences with customers who went down the bespoke route several years ago. They invest thousands of dollars into a system specifically created for their terminal. Then, five years later, they find themselves in a situation where the key stakeholder of the system has left the business, along with everyone who knows how it works, and it’s running on an outdated technology platform that’s no longer supported. They want to expand the port, offer new services to customers, integrate with third-party systems – all of which are being blocked by the legacy ‘bespoke’ TOS.”
Ultimately, CommTrac represents not just software, but decades of acquired industry intelligence. For most terminal operators, it delivers a level of maturity, support, and future-readiness that is difficult to match with a bespoke system.
Find out more about CommTrac.