British Telecom and computer services company Maritime Cargo Processing are building a communications link between computer services at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and the Port of London, managed by Telecom, and computer services for inventory control of cargo at 10 UK ports, managed by Maritime, which are incompatible: the aim of the system, which is due to be operating fully by 1990, is to streamline the flow of foreign trade and the two intend to get other organisations providing similar services at other ports to join in the compatibility project to create a nationwide system; Telecom also manages the nationwide system, which collects and processes cargo data for Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise.
