An initiative called iTerminals4.0, led by Fundación Valenciaport and co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme (CEF) of the European Commission, aims to develop and test in real operations a standard digital language that facilitates bidirectional communication between port equipment and container terminal operations management systems.
This communication language, promoted by the international association of port operators and manufacturers Terminal Industry Committee, has been successfully implemented in the terminals operated by the CMA CGM-Terminal Link group in Malta, Thessaloniki, Dunkerque and Montoir, as well as in the terminals of the PSA group in Antwerp, Sines and Genoa.
In fact, during iTerminals4.0’s latest conference, the project partners presented the development process of the language called TIC4.0 Semantics and its fields of application.
The session was structured in three blocks, the first of which was dedicated to the impact that the application of digital standards has on the improvement of port operations.
In this part, three application cases were presented in which IoT devices were installed on port machinery to record and send operational information from this equipment to BigData management platforms.
Through visualisation modules specifically developed in the project, it was possible to detect inefficiencies such as waiting times and non-operational times that are difficult to detect by conventional means.
The second part of the conference consisted of a round table discussion in which the experiences and lessons learned during the project were shared. Issues such as cybersecurity and quality of available data were some of the aspects discussed.
The last session of the conference focused on the applications of the digital standard in areas such as predictive maintenance, energy efficiency and operational safety in port terminals.
The iTerminals4.0 consortium is made up of the following companies: Fundación Valenciaport (coordinator), Terminal Link – CMA CGM, Prodevelop, Hyster-Yale, RBS, PSA Group, Konecranes, TBA, Cargotec, ZPMC, Kho Management and Bolloré Ports.
