THE rapid rise of the cruise industry is putting pressure on ports as popular ones handle hundreds of vessel calls and hundreds of thousands of passengers each year. As well as key environmental considerations, vessel operators and the cruise terminals need to be able o handle the requirement of excursions, victualing, bunkering and passenger emplaning as they join and leave the vessels.
With so much activity, that is often seasonal, ports are turning to digital solutions to improve information flows and situational awareness. The delay of one vessel arriving in a port can have a knock on effect with other vessels, excursions and the whole port dynamic according to Mikael Lind and other authors in the latest STM Validation project and Port CDM Concept note published here on Fathom.World.
The authors refer to a little know introduction of the Port CDM (collaborative Decision Making) principles at the Port f Stavanger which started in late 2015.
With so many cruise ship port calls (more than 200 in the 2017 summer season) and so many businesses and organisations being involved in handling each port call, the aim was to increase situational awareness and port call efficiency with a standardised automated messaging system.
In addition to improving port call efficiency through the PortCDM demonstrator, the Port of Stavanger has been able to identify cost savings amongst the port companies.
The Concept Note also identifies how the PortCDM process could benefit cruise vessel reporting under the Norwegian Environmental Port Index. By creating better operational efficiencies, and having vessels spend less time idling or waiting for services, emissions are reduced, which would act in favour of vessel owners seeing reduced port fees.
Read the STM/Port CDM concept note here
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