Smart, smarter, smartest

Look beyond the port gate for efficiency improvement

Being smart should extend far beyond the port gates, says James Douglas, director of Exis Technologies, a partner in the I-PORT project.

Funded by the European Space Agency, I-PORT – Optimising Intermodal Freight Transport through European Ports – is looking at ways to get more accurate information about trucks’ and vessels’ estimated time of arrival at port. In the case of trucks, this is based on capturing data from trucks equipped with GPS or via an App.

“Large ports in Europe use vehicle booking systems – trucks have to book a slot. This gives the port has a nice, steady workflow during the day – they know the number of vehicles coming in and out so they can manage their shift patterns and the number of straddle carriers they need,” says Mr Douglas. “But what they don’t do is care much about what is happening outside the gate.

“I-PORT aims to help with that. By capturing GPS data on the vehicles, a port can capture the location of the vehicle that’s due to come to the port, merge this with traffic congestion information and calculate the ETA. If a slot is booked for 2pm but the vehicle clearly isn’t going to arrive until 4pm, then rather than waste that slot the port can re-allocate it.

I-PORT has built this solution and made progress but it’s a case of persuading ports, many of them currently preoccupied with TOS and other IT upgrades, to recognise what they could gain by not missing slots. “To get this on the agenda, ports need to optimise other things first,” he says. “You need a strong project to pull all the threads together and make it happen – and the ESA has asked us to continue with another project.”

Mr Douglas describes the smart port concept as “a great aspiration” and says there are some good examples of devices and processes already in place that could be adopted.

“For example, nearly all new cars have SIM cards in them, so data can be collected from those. We already have managed motorways with connected signage and we have car parking connectivity – when you drive into a city, you’ll see a sign tell you how many parking spaces are left.”

He also highlights traffic management systems that can detect a bus by its wheel base and turn the traffic lights in the bus’ favour at the next junction. “Obviously you could do the same for HGVs.”