Port of Rotterdam full speed ahead on digitization

The port is enhancing its entire 42-kilometer port area – from the City of Rotterdam all the way into the North Sea – with IBM Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and IBM Cloud.    The Port of Rotterdam Authority has teamed up with IBM on a multi-year digitization initiative to transform the port’s operational environment using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in the cloud, the port revealed Wednesday in a press release.
   The port’s goal is to host autonomous ships by 2025, and to prepare for this milestone, the port is enhancing its entire 42-kilometer port area – from the City of Rotterdam all the way into the North Sea – with IBM Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and IBM Cloud, according to a blog post by Vincent Campfens, business consultant, internet of things, smart infrastructure, Port of Rotterdam.
   “Using IBM IoT, we will create a digital twin of the port – an exact digital replica of our operations that will mirror all resources at the port of Rotterdam, tracking ship movements, infrastructure, weather, geographical and water depth data with 100 percent accuracy,” he said.
   The initiative begins with the development of a centralized dashboard application, which will collect and process real-time water (hydro), weather (meteo), sensor data and communications data, analyzed through the IBM IoT platform, the port explained.
   Data will be “turned into information that the Port of Rotterdam can use to make decisions that reduce wait times, determine optimal times for ships to dock, load and unload, and enable more ships into the available space,” the port said. “With the new initiative, Port of Rotterdam operators will also be able to view the operations of all the different parties at the same time, making that process more efficient.”
   Overall, the Port of Rotterdam is Europe’s largest port by cargo tonnage, Campfens said. The port processes over 140,000 ships per year, and coordinating the berthing can be very complex, but with a new digital dashboard, it will be able to view the operations of all parties at the same time, and increase volume and efficiency, he explained.
   BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool shows that in addition to dozens of intra-North Europe liner services, the port is called by 59 liner services connecting it to regions outside North Europe, with several of the Asia-North Europe loops sporting vessels exceeding 20,000 TEUs.