Pivotal port optimisation role: berthing benefits

There are inchoate efforts underway to tie such optimisation to what happens upon vessel arrival.

As test projects roll out, I am predicting that port planners will see a flurry of simulations, and actual prototypes, of efforts to link deepwater optimisations to landside scheduling of berths. Clearly, vessel contracting mechanisms, and practices surrounding notices of arrival (NOA), commencement of laytime, and other provisions related to time counting, need a fresh look.

Organisations like BIMCO, which is taking a fresh look at tanker charter parties, may wish to survey the wider array of documents. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), in conjunction with regional groups, is going to be rolling out “Green Corridors”- which will look selectively at system-wide optimsations, albeit with very specific geographies.

There is a cliché along the lines of, “You’ve seen one port, then you’ve seen one port…” meaning that each port will be a little different with its own peculiarities and ways of doing business. But, just as coalitions of vessels and cargo owners are being formed to try out the new commercial templates, ports may need to join together to work with the optimisers, to develop common protocols, in order to increase the likelihood of wider penetration.

The early digital offerings that I’ve seen were made possible, in part, because of the cooperation of port interests (which, in some instances, are the operators of the landside facilities that are part of the optimisation package). However, vessels will call at multiple ports in their geographic rotations; in the bulk markets, where I am most familiar, the ships are “fixed” with various options for loading and discharging ports. As a practical matter, an optimisation protocol that includes the land-side scheduling will really need to encompass all of the origin or destination port options; otherwise, it’s a matter of luck where a proper linkage will occur.

One effort worth watching, spearheaded by a Finland-based software outfit with the support of a large international law firm (with a substantial maritime practice), is the Blue Visby project – which hopes to go live in early 2023 with prototype projects. Its organisers estimate the cost of “hurry up and wait” (proceeding quickly at sea only to spend days sitting at an anchorage area, prior to cargo operations, upon arrival) at multiple $billions; the extra GHG emissions are also substantial.