Digital Transformation of a Leading Port Management Firm

Customer Overview

Our customer is a prominent provider of marine services based in Singapore, specializing in delivering advanced maritime software solutions to major ports and towage operators globally. The customer has identified an opportunity to digitize and automate marine operations aiming to improve operational efficiency and excellence.

Project Overview

In the realm of marine port operations, the current manual processes for job planning, resource allocation, and billing are causing significant challenges, including inefficiencies, complexity, and communication issues faced by the Accounting and Planner teams. To address these problems, the business aims to implement a streamlined, digitized, port automation system that will efficiently manage pilotage or towage jobs and accurately generate invoices based on the resources used for each job.

Challenges

Maritime operations face following challenges due to the complexities of allocating resources, tracking time, and manual coordination, impacting efficiency and billing transparency,

• The planner team encounters significant challenges in manually allocating resources for tasks like Pilotage and Towage. Constraints include limited human and physical resources (e.g., tugboats, pilot boats) and factors like vessel types, sea tide levels, and depth, complicating allocation.
• Manual time tracking for each resource in a job poses difficulties, often leading to billing discrepancies and reduced transparency for customers, impacting trust and satisfaction in service delivery.
• Manual intervention and coordination among human resources, planners, and billing teams are crucial for efficient job completion. Planners often follow up with resources to initiate tasks, adding manual effort and potential delays to operations.
• The lack of real-time tracking for resources and vessels hinders timely decision-making, potentially causing inefficiencies and operational disruptions.

Solution

The proposed solution aims to automate job planning, resource allocation, and billing processes to eliminate manual inefficiencies and complexities.

• Developed a Web Application for Account and Planner teams and an iPad application for human resources like pilots and tug masters, enhancing mobility and control.
• Implemented an AI-powered Job Scheduling Engine to optimize resource allocation, maximizing planning efficiency with minimal human intervention.
• Enabled manual or automatic job planning, visually represented on a Gantt Chart for easy adjustment. Real-time job tracking and coordination available via a dedicated chat platform and map visualization.
• Upon allocation and deployment of resources by planners, notifications are sent to human resources through the iPad app, facilitating real-time updates on job progress.
• The system accurately detects job completion based on shared resource statuses, calculates resource allocation time, and generates invoices based on actual job utilization, automating billing processes.

Benefits

The port automation solution we developed to streamline and enhance marine operations delivers the following benefits:

• By automating job planning and resource allocation, manual errors are minimized, and operations are streamlined, resulting in increased efficiency throughout departments.
• The solution's scalable nature allows it to adapt to growing demands, ensuring seamless operations even during periods of increased workload.
• Optimal allocation of resources leads to their maximum utilization, reducing idle time and boosting overall productivity.
• Automated billing processes guarantee accuracy in invoicing, minimizing discrepancies and enhancing customer satisfaction.
• Through resource optimization and operational streamlining, the business can achieve long-term cost savings.

Technology and Integration

• Java
• Angular
• Flutter
• AWS Services
• ActiveMQ