Combining real-live AIS data with coordinates of berths in the port
Finding a place to berth in the port of Rotterdam, will be an easy task for inland shippers with the soon-to-be-launched Berth Available’ app.
With this new app shippers will be able to see at a glance which berths are available and which ones are taken. Entrepreneur Léon Gommans came up with the application that combines real-live data on the location of ships from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) with the coordinates of berths in the port of Rotterdam. Gommans recently won the National App Prize with his idea. It is expected that the app will be available in the App Store by October.
The app will be based on data from the project Blauwe golf, Verbindend’, an initiative of the provinces Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland, Rijkswaterstaat (the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management), the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and the Port of Rotterdam Authority, which facilitates information exchange between shippers and waterway managers.
As of 1 December 2014 an AIS device is mandatory for all vessels on the Rhine. The data from AIS is available as long as shippers and vessels stay anonymous and can be used for maritime purposes only.
Source: Port of Rotterdam
