Digitisation, connectivity and automation are crucial to making ports and terminals more efficient, Dr Yvo Saanen, managing director and founder of TBA, has said.
Dr Saanen said that digitisation, specifically using technology to connect ports to share information across the supply chain, is important in order for ports and terminals to operate more efficiently.
“Terminals play a pivotal role in the supply chain, however they have very little control over the supply chain,” he said. “They don’t know when the ships are going to arrive, they don’t know when the trains are going to arrive and they don’t know when the trucks are going to arrive.
“Still, they have to provide high levels of service and increasing levels of service to keep customers happy. So connectivity throughout the supply chain and integrating the terminal inside is very important.”
Just as important is looking at where ports and terminals can implement automation. “Technology offers us great opportunities. And this will continue to offer opportunities to deploy to make operations more efficient,” added Dr Saanen.
“Terminals are very good at collecting data but what are they doing with it? Are they really using it to improve their operations? That’s the challenge.”
Dr Saanen predicted that artificial intelligence will change the business: robotisation in the terminal area is already becoming more mature and more and more technology vendors are providing solutions. However, automation at ports is still at a very low level.
In fact, according to Dr Saanen, only 7% of terminals worldwide have some degree of automation which, compared with other industries, is dramatically low. “So, there is great potential in implementing technologies to make terminals more efficient,” he said, adding that TBA expects a number of new technologies to be rolled out in the near future.
