Total Soft Bank sweeps global maritime software industry

Total Soft Bank, established in November 1988 at a small office in Busan, is well known outside Korea as a world-class solution provider in maritime logistics and operation. Many global shipping companies and port operation companies have already adopted this company's products such as Computer Automated Stowage Planning (CASP) and Computer Automated Terminal Operating System (CATOS) in their working environments.
At first, it was TSB Super Cargo that succeeded in penetrating the well established and difficult high maritime business walls. Mr. J.R Choi, current president and CEO of Total Soft Bank, developed this software program. He graduated from the Korea Maritime University in 1981, and went through his seafaring life as the chief mate in an American shipping company named LASCO shipping Co., where he made as much as four or five times what an average office worker made. In 1985, LASCO shipping purchased a $25 thousand loading computer to indicate how many cargoes each vessel loaded safely in order to improve workflow.
After examining this system, Mr. Choi spent the next year developing a similar system, called 'TSB Super Cargo'. Receiving praise from his president and co-workers using his program, he decided to make money by supplying companies with high-valued maritime programs. 'TSB Super Cargo' is now installed on 479 cargo vessels all over the world.
Continuing maritime software development, Total Soft Bank released CASP in 1991 and CATOS in 1996. CASP was aimed at shipping companies to optimize manpower and working times during loading and unloading processes. As of 2001, CASP occupies the lion's share of the global market, with 80% of Asian shipping companies using it, including Hanjin Shipping and Hyundai Merchant Marine as well as the Chinese national shipping company, COSCO. As a matter of fact, CASP is generally recognized as an industry standard.
CATOS, with the world's No.2 market share, boasts outstanding performance in streamlining port operation efficiency.
TSB goals for this year are to have 90% of all sales, 13.5 billion won, destined for export. Next year, TSB expects to reach 20 billion won in exports. In the midst of the tough maritime market in 2002, TSB expects to post a slightly decreased net income, 2.9 billion won, in spite of total revenue growth to 13.4 billion won up from 9 billion won in 2001.
Now, TSB is introducing a new 'future prediction simulator' and 'virtual reality simulator'. This 3D virtual reality simulator focuses on training harbor engineers to handle high-cost gantry cranes. Mr. Choi said, "If a port uses this simulator to train their engineers, they can improve their efficiency by somewhere between 25% to 50% depending on their port situation. This is a very important point to the port for them to increase their competitiveness."