All hands on deck!?

The last 48 months have been hectic in the maritime industry: collapse of the cruise business, blank sailings and diverted ships, congested ports, containers piling up, decarbonisation, fires and collisions, the Suez Canal blockage... And it does not look like the situation will improve very soon.

Planning of ships is normally done many months or even years in advance. However, the events mentioned above have turned this planning upside down in many ports in the world. This not only creates uncertainty but also much overhead at the ports, which have to communicate exponentially more in order to align all stakeholders. Marine pilotage, tug boats, fresh water, bunkering, berth and terminal operations ... Communicating with all these stakeholders, checking their availability, updating the planning (once more) and finally confirming the altered planning... or not again... consumes a lot of precious time from Harbour Masters and other operational managers. It is therefore currently all hands on deck to manage the day-to-day operations at many ports around the world.

Port Management Information Systems (PMIS) can remove most of the overhead by simplifying and automating the communication between the different actors. Delays announced by the shipping agent (or via any other system), will automatically trigger all involved actors including Harbour Master (HM), Vessel planner, marine pilots organisation, tug boat company, linesmen, berth ops manager, waste collectors, etc. This to ensure they are not preparing and executing any activities in vain. After the HM and vessel planner have updated their planning, depending on the next available slot, the updated planning is again automatically shared with all relevant actors, who at their turn can confirm/reject their attendance or propose a new time. By acting as a Common Decision Making platform, much time is spared from the Harbour and planning master.

But the advantage of having a Port (Information) Management System doesn't stop there. Because the system works almost completely automatically, everybody has access to the same info at any given time. Also, because all actions and decisions are automatically logged in the system, this data is available for future reference and generating insightful reports.

Now, what I have just described is limited to how a PMIS can overcome the communication overhead. But there is more. Being confronted with an ever-changing planning does not only mean more communication, it also means the game-plan has to be updated over and over again, which has an enormous impact on the port's efficiency and its environment. Moving from planning mode to firefighting mode automatically means there is no time to look for the best possible solution, but just for the first possible solution only! This leads to degraded customer service and increased costs. A Port Management (Information) System helps Harbour Masters and Planning operators to maintain a good view on the situation, whether or not accompanied by a graphical overview of the port for situational awareness. Even for ports operating without a VTS, a PMIS can offer a graphical overview (2D, 3D) of all ships in the port, based on their AIS info. A Port Management System is therefore THE tool that allows a port to optimise its efficiency in many different ways. It significantly reduces overhead and helps maintaining operational efficiency, and hence customer satisfaction, even when working in a disruptive market situation.

So let us quit working in firefighting mode, and take back control of your port's operations by reducing the overhead and increasing efficiency. All hands on deck? Well, let us say, use your resources wisely and use tools to help you controlling the fire. Interested to find out how Saab can also help you in improving profitability in these trying times, contact me at:

[email protected].