Ports are essential links in the supply chain. They promote the transition from a mode of maritime transport to a mode of land transport and vice versa. However, to maintain their competitiveness and maximize their economic attractiveness, ports must offer quality services. Discover in this article the different port services.
What is a port service?
Before getting to the heart of the matter, it is important to remember what a port service is. This is any service rendered in a port, such as services rendered to ships, goods or to the various economic operators of the port. In either case, port services aim to make possible or facilitate the movement of goods from the place of shipment to their final destinations.
Indeed, ports are geographical places through which passengers and/or goods pass. Seaports welcome ships and constitute a meeting point between these ships and the various modes of land transport. They are also control centers responsible for collecting and exchanging computerized data essential to the smooth running of the transit of ships and goods.
Some ports are also part of industrial-port zones, also called ZIPs. They act as an interface between ports and industries. They are connected to a hinterland or hinterland, that is to say the region where the products and goods passing through go and come from.
Presentation of the various port services
There are three main groups of port services:
1 - Services provided to ships
The services rendered to ships in a port are varied. Some relate to the maintenance of equipment while others relate to administrative formalities or specific activities. The main services are:
Piloting
The port provides a pilot to assist captains of ships wishing to enter or leave the port. The latter plays only the role of adviser and does not carry out maneuvers in place of the ship's commander. Pilotage is compulsory in all ports.
Towing
This service consists of helping ships entering or leaving the port, for their shifting, unberthing and docking maneuvers. It is provided by small vessels with powerful engines (tugs).
Blasting and water supply
Blasting consists of companies approved by the port supplying fuel to boats. The port also provides water on board ships for drinking, engine cooling and other uses.
2 - Services rendered to the goods
The services rendered to the goods are all services ranging from the transport of the goods to their delivery to the end customer. They are possible thanks to a set of port facilities:
Handling
A distinction is made between on-board handling, which concerns the loading and unloading of goods from ships to the quay and vice versa. Goods that pass through ports are most often transported via sea containers. This involves carrying out the following operations: picking up, lifting, transferring the load, depositing and returning the handling crane to the ship.
There is also land handling, which includes operations related to the transport of containers from the docks to the storage warehouses and vice versa. Land pick-up, loading on the transport vehicle, transport, unloading in a storage area or warehouse, return and vice versa for export.
Stuffing and stripping
Stuffing consists of placing the packages in a container in stuffing centers (Container Freight Station). On the other hand, stripping consists of removing the packages from a container in stuffing or stripping centres.
Note that import and/or export verification as well as international transport are services rendered to the goods.
3 - Miscellaneous services
Apart from the services provided to ships and goods, ports also provide other services in port areas. These include, among others:
lighting and security
The port illuminates the port area to allow economic operators to carry out activities during the night. It also ensures the security of the port area jointly with the police officers. The Port Agents and Police Association forms the Port Police.
Provision of rental space, water, electricity and telephone
The port provides rental space that economic operators (lessees) can rent within the port area. The port also provides its tenants with water, electricity and telephone services.
The sideboards
The port provides quality routes (roads and railways) for the transport of goods to the end customer. Private operators also use these channels for activities that are not directly carried out by the port.
Towards a digitization of port services
To properly play their roles and remain competitive, ports use port information systems. They therefore aim to digitize their terminals in order to optimize their various services.
Port IT
Port computing offers neutral and open digital platforms called PCS (Port Community System) to promote the instantaneous exchange of information between actors. Obviously, the digitization of port services extends well beyond the terminals. It concerns all public and private players in the logistics, port and airport chains.
These include transport organizers, shipping and airline companies, logistics and customs warehouses, customs brokers, terminals, customs and administrative authorities, port and airport authorities, ministries, etc. The objective is to optimize, automate and to secure all the processes related to the passage of the goods.
The S)ONE software is a good example of PCS. It incorporates innovative responses to meet two major needs: to reduce the time it takes to transport goods and to secure information.
Connected containers
Ports around the world are fighting a battle for the digitalization of port services to improve their competitiveness. The port of Rotterdam, for example, has just opted for the creation of a #WeAre42 smart container in Rotterdam. The container carries sensors that continuously measure the conditions and the environment around and inside the container.
These sensors collect a wide range of data: vibration, pitch, position, noise, air pollution, humidity and temperature. The port of Rotterdam aims to become the smartest port in the world to meet the strong and growing need for transparency and integrity in the supply chain.
Port automation
To go further, some ports have opted for the automation of tasks. Port automation is mainly about automating routine, repetitive and dangerous tasks for humans. But for the moment, the almost total automation envisaged (90% of port operations) remains in low proportions. This only affects a few terminals, including APM Terminals, in Rotterdam on Maasvlakte 2.
Indeed, a high degree of automation requires a significant investment and an in-depth analysis of the risks inherent in cyber-security. This also requires the training of workers in new technologies in order to limit job loss.
Port digitalization is an emerging and strategic phenomenon for the years to come. This is encompassed around a more global trend called logistics 4.0.