South Carolina Ports in the US has agreed a strategic collaboration agreement with Portchain, a provider of Artificial Intelligence systems to optimise quayside operations, as part of a move towards full digitisation of its berth planning and collaboration processes.
The first Portchain deployment will take place at the newly opened Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal (HLT), before being rolled out to South Carolina Ports’ Wando Welch Terminal (WWT) and North Charleston Terminal (NCT) later this year.
Once fully implemented, port calls will be automatically imported into Portchain’s Berth Optimization Engine (BOE) application for berth scheduling, allowing planners to quickly evaluate different scenarios to select the optimal plan, and more easily adapt to changes to customer information as they happen.
External stakeholders within the port community, such as shipping lines, will also be able to utilise the cloud-based platform to gain real-time access to the latest berth schedule.
“South Carolina Ports has a mission to deliver cost-effective facilities and operations, while providing enhanced collaboration and service offerings for our customers and stakeholders,” said Joel Britt, Senior Director Operations, South Carolina Port.
“With Portchain, we will deploy the latest cloud technology to digitize and improve vessel operation planning and create a distinctive customer experience by connecting all stakeholders to the multi-terminal berth plan in real-time.”
