Two technology-based process improvements have won the nation’s second-busiest port accolades from a global trade association.
The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), which represents more than 130 port authorities in the Western Hemisphere, recognized the Port of Long Beach (POLB) twice recently as part of its annual Information Technology Awards program. Begun in 2002, the program spotlights technology achievements in Port Operations, Management Systems; and in Improvements in Intermodal Freight Transportation. (The facility handled 7.6 million container units last year — the second-best year in its history.) Here’s what Long Beach won:
• POLB, considered the nation’s second-busiest container port, received AAPA’s Award of Distinction for its Pilot Slips Application during its 2020 Together Apart Annual Convention and Expo, Sept. 21-23. The secure website app lets port staffers enterprise-wide search and review ship pilot activities and “related ship moves at the Port of Los Angeles,” according to POLB. It replaced a paper-based process in which information could be distributed only via email or Excel spreadsheet.
Jacobsen Pilot Services Inc., which provides harbor pilots and master ship handlers to the port, was migrating to an electronic process itself, and the port’s Tenant Services Office had wanted to see the pilot slips electronically via search function. The port’s Information Management Division (IMD) created the custom app, enabling the daily entry of pilot slip data. Project cost was about $30,000.
• The port also received AAPA’s Award of Merit for its Temporary Berth Assignment (TBA) toolset, a process improvement to workflow aimed at managing short-term berth assignments at the port. The app lets staffers enter real-time location information from the port’s enterprise GIS viewer to provide a timeline of a vessel’s assigned area, contract details and related documents. Data can be seen via a “time slider,” the port said, to document past, present and future assignments and reveal “time-based availability of spaces.” The toolset replaces a manual process based on emails and spreadsheets.
The toolset came about when the port’s Tenant Services and Operations Division sought a tracking solution to improve visibility of assignments for vessels that don’t have an automated identification system. IMD developed layers in GIS to expand the function of its GIS Web viewer and show temporary berth assignments. The solution “leverages an existing modern GIS HTML5-hosted platform,” the port said, which lets users “interact with live vessel feeds (and) weekly satellite imagery on desktop, tablets or mobile devices.” The solution’s cost was budgeted at $28,700, but it cost $37,000 “due in part to evolving requirements, user experience and detailed report generation.”
