Dive Brief:
- The Port of Rotterdam Authority is now using a hydro-meteo internet of things (IoT) application to help plan and manage its shipping operations, a press release revealed Thursday.
- The application collects tide, water, wind and visibility information using 44 sensors, before running prediction models to optimize ship schedules — such as berthing, loading/unloading and departure times — for water and weather conditions.
- The application is the first use of the port's new IoT platform, which deploys sensors throughout the facility to gather "hyper-precise data" in real time.
Dive Insight:
The application's launch marks the next step in what has been a year-long endeavor by Rotterdam to be known as the "world's smartest port."
A year ago, the port contracted IBM, Cisco, Esri and Axians to develop an IoT platform to gather and analyze data. A blog post by IBM at the time revealed the port's ambitions included creating a digital twin of the port, building an on-site 3D printing facility, and setting the table for when autonomous ships arrive.
"The generic building blocks that have now been implemented offer the Port of Rotterdam a safe and reliable basis for rapid innovation with access to the latest technologies, including edge computing, real-time analytics, artificial intelligence, hyper-precise data and blockchain," the press release reads.
Even the most advanced platform needs a pilot, however. At Rotterdam that was the hydro/meteo IoT application, which the port said is already being used by various parties, including the Pilotage Service, and processes 1.2 million data points per day for models, systems and users.
"The proof of the pudding of the IoT platform was the completion of the hydro/meteo application," the press release reads. "It is the first time that the generic IoT platform was used for a mission-critical application."
