The impact of the pandemic is one of the drivers behind the increased interest in port call optimisation and just-in-time arrivals
This was one of the conclusions of Riviera Maritime Media’s Container terminals: post-pandemic challenges and boosting productivity webinar, part of its Container Ship Ops & Tech week, held in April this year, which was sponsored by Port of Nansha (Guangzhou Port Group) and Unikie.
Port call optimisation and just-in-time arrivals were a focus of the webinar’s discussion, which featured Guangzhou Port (Europe) chief executive Johannes Nanninga, International Taskforce Port Call Optimization chairman Ben Van Scherpenzeel and Unikie Oy director, business development and ecosystems, Jouni Salo.
Mr Nanninga highlighted the pandemic challenges ports in China are currently facing – and how this is having a knock-on effect on developing port optimisation.
“More and more businesses in China are moving inland, so inland transport is increasingly important,” he said, explaining the lockdown meant it was more difficult to get cargo to ports by truck. “During the Shanghai lockdown, the port was operating as normal, but it was more difficult to reach the port in such circumstances.”
Port of Nansha is in a good position to help its customers cope with the challenges over the past few years. Mr Nanninga said, “We are a new port so have ample capacity – all major alliances have direct calls, and this paid off for them as there were upheavals in the last two years and ships had to divert to Nansha because Shenzhen port closed.”
He explained the impact of pandemic challenges in ports in China. “The pandemic has caused challenges to processes in port. There is a loss of capacity because processes are very strict, and shipowners adjust to the situation if extra testing is to be done. We (Nansha) haven’t had lockdowns but if ship crew test positive there is a loss of capacity as they have to quarantine.
“This has pushed ports faster on the road of optimisation. It is necessary to look at procedures, optimisation, more robust appointment systems for trucks entering ports and improving links.”
Port of Nansha is looking closely into pilots of just-in-time arrival processes. “It is very important certain timestamps are standardised and the DCSA is playing a major role in this. We are looking to see if we can join,” Mr Nanninga said.
He commented, “The pandemic is speeding up digitalisation, and we are trying to get better data to connect with all actors. We have four terminals and all different systems, we are trying to put a data layer on top of this, and are also taking part in TradeLens.”
TradeLens is a secure data and document-sharing platform that simplifies and speeds up trade workflows.
Meanwhile, Taskforce Port Call Optimization chairman Ben Van Scherpenzeel explained the progress the taskforce has made with port call optimisation. “We started at the request of shipping lines about how to improve port information,” he explained. “Port call data is very important as it is the basis of safety, security and environmental performance.”
And it achieves these performances in the most efficient way. The Taskforce’s scope is for deepsea shipping berth-to-berth, as well as movement of the vessel’s cargo, which involves realising a reliable and sustainable end-to-end supply chain.
"We take a global approach, as we recognise there is a network of thousands of ports, and we have thousands of ships, so we have a very strong and global roadmap.”
He explained, “The first step was to agree on business processes, which starts from signing with the charter party, to identified data sets, a defined minimum scope of data, and a report facility for nautical, administrative and operational data. The reasoning is to have an impact on IMO objectives and to ensure that we, as a ship and port, are compliant with existing IMO resolutions.”
The taskforce had to agree on robust standardisation bodies, and both technical and non-technical standards for the three data sets.
Mr Van Scherpenzeel summed up, “All work has been done or is about to be completed and we are developing incentives for data owners per data set, and guides on how to implement the data standards for the three data sets.”
The first port to implement the nautical and operational data guide is expected by the end of this year.
Elsewhere, Finland-headquartered Unikie is working on port flow optimisation with streamlined operations, involving one interface of secure information flow between vessels and all port actors.
Unikie’s solutions for ports include POLO, a port community tool and system-based situational awareness tool, and its DWIN, a real-time industrial smart space system.
Mr Salo said, “The information is there – the ports have been running two millennials and information is in every single silo in the port organisation. Our aim is to serve information to all relevant parties, to not take business out of anybody but to make things faster.”
In more detail, POLO consists of one centralised place for up-to-date situational awareness data, offering full visibility over the whole port operation process and schedules: a virtual operation room for port operations, replacing complicated and manual port flow processes with automated and digitalised processes.
Mr Salo’s presentation explained it integrates existing systems and data sources, both public and private, taking full advantage of the existing systems.
A set up example of POLO comes from the port of Gavle. It involves integrated systems; maritime single window; pilot ageing (Fenix/SMA); cargo operations (Yilport); Shiplog, Live ETA; AIS ; SMA/VIS, vessels with VIS capabilities, communicating ETA and RTA; and weather forecasts and data (Global Weather Corp.)
The outlook is bright according to the panellists.
Mr Van Scherpenzeel said, “Despite all of today’s troubles, such as Covid… I still see a bright future if we have a steady route to the same standards leading to implementation.”
Mr Nanninga added, “…I still see in practice standardisation is not a given, there is a lot of work to be done, but I’m quite positive that we can have shared information and options in the supply chain.”
Mr Salo added, “Transparency is key to operations…. a future-proof supply chain is an excel and paperless supply chain.”
The leading barrier to the implementation of data sharing and common shared technical and non-technical standards in the maritime transport chain is...
Within what timeframe do you see ports developing effective digitalised solutions with other stakeholders for sharing nautical, operations and administrative data?
What importance do you attach to the development of industrywide technical and non-technical standards in maritime data to progress the optimisation of port calls and the improvement in efficiencies of end-to-end supply chains?
Although we have a year of very low schedule reliability of ocean carriers behind us, ocean transport is still the most predictable and reliable mode of international transport compared with other modes (air, rail, truck)
To understand what is happening in my supply chain....
Which of the following best summarises your supply chain strategy?
Source: Riviera Maritime Media
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