Changing priorities
Tideworks pic
How should ports prioritise their ships or cargoes? That depends on the type of operation.
The key is having the right communication tools in place and a reliable terminal operating system and planning system that provides the ability to prioritise cargoes and gives complete visibility into those priorities, he says. This enables the operator to plan, for example, the priority discharge of certain containers, or to estimate the time when those containers will be available on dock.
Tideworks' Mainsail Terminal Management System and planning software Spinnaker Planning Management System are designed to maximise terminal efficiency and productivity both quayside and yardside.
The Spinnaker system has a berthing module bundled with the software to enable operators to plan, modify and execute the ideal berthing of vessels, including planning and viewing berth allocation for the current shift or over multiple shifts and days.
Jade's Dave Quennell says that the main priority for terminals is their main revenue-earning container, bulk and cruise vessels, with semi-regular visits by smaller vessels, or other ad-hoc visits, being much lower down the priority list.
Jade's berthing management software, VTMIS (Vessel Traffic Management Information System), is an integral part of its Jade Master Terminal software. The company has clients using only the VTMIS aspects of JMT, without any of the terminal management, while other sites have full container, general cargo, invoicing and VTMIS all rolled into one package.
Information regarding cargo prioritising can be made available and shared in the harbour and cargo management aspects of the JMT software, and the system can re-schedule regular call vessels automatically, says Mr Quennell.
Feedback from ports on the whole berth scheduling question mainly relates to this being an "evolving and elusive thing", he says. "At the end of the day, it often comes to managing such things as delayed arrivals due to unforeseen circumstances on a case-by-case basis - this is where the flexibility of the software comes into play and allows the operator to rapidly evaluate options graphically in real time."
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