Port of Gothenburg set to introduce Berth Planner for smart calls
A new digital tool will make calls at the Port of Gothenburg more time-efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally smart. Berth Planner, developed by the Gothenburg Port Authority in partnership with the Finnish company Awake.AI, is due to be launched after the summer. It is a unique initiative that will provide shipbrokers, pilots, and mooring personnel with the tool they have sought for years.
– We’re working on several fronts to digitalise the port, not only to make calls more efficient but also to visualise freight flows. Berth Planner is just one of a series of investments that we are making to propel the Port of Gothenburg into the future, said Martin Johannesson, IT Manager at the Gothenburg Port Authority.
The provider chosen was Awake.AI, a Finnish company that is very much at the forefront in digital solutions for advanced port operations.
– Port of Gothenburg aims to be one of the world’s most competitive port. We are excited to be part of their digitalization journey and provide Port of Gothenburg with an integrated, smart and user-friendly berth planning tool that will optimize port call and improve collaboration between all port actors, said Simo Salminen, VP of Product, Awake.AI.
Berth Planner offers opportunities
Berth Planner offers two-way integration – for in-house use by berth planning personnel at the Port of Gothenburg, and for external use by the various parties involved in port calls.
– Berth Planner is more powerful and more comprehensive than anything that is currently available. Traffic coordinators at Port Control, safety and security coordinators at the Energy Terminal, and the port’s production planners will now have a schematic overview at their disposal. It is similar in many ways to a traditional school timetable, where we can see which ships are moored at the different berths. Using the map service, we can choose from a list of time slots for each berth. This allows us to see which vessel is due to moor at a particular berth at a particular time. The positioned vessels at berths that have GPS bollards can be seen on the map, said Fredrik Rauer, traffic coordinator at the Gothenburg Port Authority.
Rapid, accurate information is fundamental in an efficient port call process. A vital element in this process is satisfying the need for a status overview in the planning system. This is where the second part of Berth Planner comes in. Berth Planner provides access to rapid, relevant status information for external parties, including the pilots, personnel at the Klippan mooring company, and ship’s agents, all of whom have a key role to play in the process. The system ensures greater accuracy and predictability, making it more time-efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally smart.
– It is important that the call status is transparent and can be communicated clearly to external parties. At present we receive vessel notification from the agent 24 hours before arrival. We then examine the safety and security parameters to determine if the vessel can moor at a particular berth. Coordination with the terminal reveals whether this is possible or not. There could be two or three vessels that overlap. From an external point of view, there would appear to be a risk of conflicting arrival and departure times. With Berth Planner we can allocate a status that has already been coordinated with the terminal and by doing so we can see those vessels that have been confirmed and those that are pending. Berth planner enables faster turnaround times and expands the value in our service offering to the port cluster. With more advanced call scheduling, we anticipate time savings and improved efficiency, not only for our operating personnel but also for the shipping companies. And with the added bonus that we are taking a further step towards achieving our environmental goal of a 70% reduction in carbon emissions at sea, at the terminal, and on land – all thanks to increased digitalisation and an enhanced information flow. Not to mention improved situational awareness and collaboration between everyone involved, said Fredrik Rauer.
The detailed product description and expected benefits will be presented on the 12th of May when Awake.AI will host a webinar together with the Gothenburg Port Authority to explain the new digital Berth Planner in more detail.