The online communication platform ‘Pronto’ enables optimisation of port calls in the Port of Rotterdam by visualising the scheduling of all involved parties real-time in one environment. Countless activities take place within the tight windows for loading and unloading of container ships at the terminals, including bunkering.
Pronto resulted to the decrease of the delay that Maersk vessels had to experience at APM Terminals at Maasvlakte II, due to bunker activities.
Marcel Jumelet, Marine Business Process Owner at Maersk, noted thath port of Rotterdam is an important European port. Yet, if a velles is delayed for a few hours, this can result in delays of over a week later on in the schedule.
Therefore, timely handling bunker activities is important both for the terminal and the shipping company.
Mainly, about 19% of Maersk vessels were delayed at APMT MVII as a consequence of bunkering not taking place at the agreed time.
To this incident, Ad van Strien, Planning Manager at APMT MVII, commented
If a vessel remains berthed for longer than envisaged, we have an idle capacity situation: this means we can no longer optimise our crane capacity. Don’t forget that the biggest container ships take up around half our quays.
Concerning bunkering, Michiel Zeevaart, Operations Manager at shipping agent Inchcape Shipping Services reported that a large bunkering operation needs to be ordered days in advance.
Delays in one bunkering impact the bunkering deliveries to subsequent vessels.
Moreover, Port Call Optimisation Specialist, Rob Koggel, addressed that with Pronto all factors in the chain can compare their schedules real time with other parties’ schedule.
Thus, all parties have the time to respond in unexpected incidents.
The Port Authority, APMT MVII, Maersk and ISS jointly ran a pilot with Pronto in 2018 concerning the bunkering of Maersk vessels at the APMT MVII. The aim was to reduce delays as a consequence of bunkering activities from 19% to 10% over a period of six weeks. The result was 0% delay.
Finally, the operation is more efficient due to ‘TimeToBunker‘ application.
The application helps bunker vessels to forward real time their anticipated arrival time at a seagoing vessel.