Terminal management solution

GreenPort Congress	World Ports Conference	Coastlink Conference

GreenPort Congress is a meeting place for the port community to discuss and learn the latest in sustainable environmental practice. It offers ways to reduce their carbon foot print and be more sensitive to environmental considerations, both of which are vital to future success.	The annual World Ports Conference brings together global port leaders and key stakeholders from the shipping sectors to explore the opportunities and challenges facing the maritime industry. This year’s #IAPH2026 will be held in London, UK, offering a programme of plenary, breakout and workshop sessions and a gala dinner celebrating the IAPH Sustainability Awards.	Coastlink is a neutral pan-European network dedicated to the promotion of short sea and feeder shipping, and the intermodal transport networks through the ports that support the sector. It is a place for industry professionals to meet and discuss future innovation, economic and environmental considerations – and develop partnerships that will help build a sustainable future.
Visit the GPC Website	Visit the WPC Website	Visit the Coastlink Website

A new terminal management solution will aid vehicle tracking, monitoring, planning and efficiency.

cars at Southampton

Cars at ABP's Port of Southampton. Photo: ABP

Associated British Ports (ABP) has chosen INFORM to provide a scalable Automotive Terminal Operating System. The goal is to provide a streamlined, fully integrated system which covers all port side operations in a single application, including the planning and optimisation of compound, resource, work, and damage management.

Brian Steeds, ABP head of automotive, said: “ABP is investing in a range of digitalization upgrades to enhance its automotive offer. The new Automotive Terminal Operating System in Southampton will bring a wealth of benefits to our customers by enabling efficient compound management, inventory linking and additional services with real time data visibility for customers via a dedicated customer portal.”

Southampton vehicle hub

With the aim of transforming ABP into the one-stop shop for the vehicle's journey from manufacturer to destination, the collaboration kicks off at the Port of Southampton, which handles around 900,000 vehicles per year.

With the new system in place, information about the condition, location, destination, and other modalities of each vehicle will be available at all times and easily documented by multiple teams. For this purpose, the new software will be linked with new 5G compatible hand-held devices for vehicle data capture utilising ABP’s new 5G infrastructure that will be in place prior to the go live date.

The IT systems of customers and partners, such as customs systems to enable digital inventory linking, can be fully integrated into INFORM’s cloud solution, providing an improved customer experience. In addition, algorithms will provide ABP with real-time decision-making support in optimal planning and efficient allocation of resources, such as parking areas or stevedores.

Additionally, a comprehensive, flexible vehicle loading and unloading plan, that can quickly adapt to unforeseen vehicle availability issues, can be created automatically. It is designed as a scalable solution which can be extended to enable the capacity to manage an increased number of vehicles in the future.