Christchurch's Jade Software Corp has added another large United States port to its expanding global network.
The company's ''track and trace'' software Master Terminal tracks mixed cargoes around ports, with US growth predicted by Jade to double during the coming year.
Philadelphia's Penn Terminals is considered a mid-sized port company and handles about 300,000 containers and half a million tonnes of mixed cargo each year, at five ports in the US southeast - two in Jacksonville and one each in Mobile, New Orleans and Port Everglades.
Its product was developed and launched at Port Otago in 1994, and including New Zealand ports,
there are now 34 sites of operation spread around the Middle East, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Italy, Iraq, Georgia, Australia, Norway and the US.
Jade managing director David Lindsay said Master Terminal was expanding quickly in the US market, while Africa was also in the company's sights.
''Jade expects its base in the US to double over the next 12 months,'' Mr Lindsay said.
In early February, Jade announced a multimillion-dollar five-year deal with five US ports. That contract was with Diversified Port Holdings, a company with $US2 billion ($NZ2.54 billion) to invest, which is building large stakes in ports and railway lines across the country. Mr Lindsay said at the time the deal with Diversified was a ''beach-head'' in the US and a better way of entering the port sector than by single ''port by port'' deals.
Master Terminal tracks containers from gate-entry to storage and to the ship, while break bulk cargo, pelletised products, cars and roll-on roll-off cargo can also be traced.
''The business is looking to the African continent, building on the success it has had in the Middle East,'' Mr Lindsay said.
For the year to December, Jade's revenue was flat, at $33 million, with an after-tax loss of $5.23 million, compared with $96,000 the previous year. At the time, Mr Lindsay said the earnings before interest and tax loss of $6.4 million, compared with a $3.2 million loss the previous year.
