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Port of Antwerp

Increasing Dock Utilisation

Berth allocation is crucial for efficient dock utilisation in container ports such as Port of Antwerp. Preparing an efficient planning of berth allocation is not an easy task to fulfil for the port authority. A lot of things have to be taken into account, such as the number of free anchoring places available and the planning of the seagoing vessels and barges. Detailed and real-time insight into this information offers opportunities for optimizing quay utilisation, reducing transhipment time, maximizing crane usage and efficiently transporting and storing containers.

Automatic and digital capturing of the exact vessel locations along the quay would reduce the need for manual registration and on-site presence of terminal operators. This information is of great value to improve the accuracy of the vessel location and reduce manual errors.

The growth of container traffic and the just-in-time delivery model means that any delay in transportation is unacceptable.A computer-aided system with real-time follow-up will reduce vessel throughput time and thus increase the satisfaction of the ship companies and captains in terms of berthing order.

In order to optimize the flow of vessels and improve the utilization of the docks, Port of Antwerp needs to know what parts of a dock are occupied. This translates into a technical challenge to use Artificial Intelligence for boat object detection, using image processing from camera feeds to detect vessels and their exact location.

For more information on this project, download the brochure
 

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