The ports of Antwerp, Oostende, Zeebrugge joined forces with North Sea Port and the Joint Nautical Management to launch SWINg, a platform to standardize and enhance regional data exchange.
Digitalization has proven a useful tool for the shipping industry. Now, North Sea Port, skippers and inland shipping companies will only have to submit a single digital report containing their route, cargo and ship data for voyages on waterways in Flanders and on the Western Scheldt.
According to North Sea Ports the online reporting platform receives its data through existing reporting software from the reporter and forwards it to all authorities on the shipping route.
In addition, the new platform provides administrative simplification and improves inland shipping making it more efficient and safer.
North Sea Port commented that
This collaboration and initiative, which also includes the Dutch Rijkswaterstaat (Department for waterways and infrastructure), and other actors, puts the partners involved among the forerunners in Europe in the field of digitization.
