Maritime software start-up Awake.AI is to provide a digital vessel scheduling system for Finnish ports through Fintraffic Vessel Traffic Services, which aims to boost the efficiency of port operations through the provision of granular ‘time data’ on vessel arrivals and departures.
Fintraffic agreed the deal for the new Port Call Time Stamp and Estimation Service with Awake.AI following the completion of an EU-wide tender, with the software company offering a ready-made service that can be made quickly available to port operators via APIs.
“The importance of time data for shipping has been taken into account in both national transport system plans and the government’s decision-in-principle on the digitalisation of logistics. The port call schedule service will now enable us to implement this on a practical level,” said Olli Soininen, Programme Manager at Fintraffic´s Vessel Traffic Services.
The new service will be based on data analysis through machine learning, with forecasts influenced by a variety of factors that will be analysed using global AIS messages.
In addition to automatic classifications, such as where a ship is coming from and where it is going, a ship’s estimated time of arrival can change based on variables such as its speed and route, the weather and the ice situation. By utilising machine learning, the system will remember what has happened in the past and how various factors have affected a ship’s arrival time, ‘learning’ the normal deviations for a particular locality and adjusting its calculations accordingly.
This should reduce data fragmentation and generate more accurate schedules, Awake.AI says.
The new port call schedule service will be introduced this Autumn after an approximately month-long delivery process, during which time the system will be customised to meet Fintraffic’s needs, followed by a test phase.
Once live, the service will be available through the Fintraffic Digitraffic API or the Fintraffic Port Activity app.
