Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Swedish seaport adopts digital berth planner

Finnish software quickly books vacant berths, Port of Gothenburg says.

gothenburg-Screen-Shot-2021-09-02-at-11.51.46-AM.png

Facing clogged container flows in global maritime operations, a Swedish port has launched a digital platform that it says can boost the efficiency of ships mooring at the dock to unload their cargo.

Sweden’s Port of Gothenburg says the “Allberth” berth planner tool has been rolled out to its Port Control division—which receives all calls at the facility—and to the safety and security coordinators at its Energy Terminal. The tool lets users quickly identify berths that are vacant and then act on that information, improving their resource planning, reducing waiting times, and leading to lower emissions.


The software product is the result of collaboration between the Finnish company Awake.AI, which is responsible for developing the service, and the Gothenburg Port Authority. Leaders say it will be the first step in the task of increasing transparency and visualization of the call system, as well as the ongoing digitalization of the port as a freight hub.

Other global ports have likewise been applying software tools to battle delays and congestion, such as Maersk Line and IBM Corp.’s blockchain-enabled digital shipping platform Tradelens and GE Transportation’s Port Optimizer maritime freight information portal, now used at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.

The new installation comes as ports worldwide face rising pressure due to disruptions such as covid outbreaks in China, winter peak imports in California, and lingering ripples from the Suez Canal blockage in Egypt.

While the Swedish tool is now being used solely by port controllers, external users will also gradually join the system. Allberth offers two-way integration, both for in-house use by berth planning personnel at the Port of Gothenburg and also for external use by the various parties involved in calls.

“We can now use the same tool to examine the safety parameters to determine whether a ship can moor at a specific berth, to position the ship, and to plan the time,” Fredrik Rauer, traffic coordinator and project leader for Berth Planner at the Gothenburg Port Authority, said in a release.

“We can also show external parties the calls that have been coordinated with the terminal and the calls for which we only have an approved vessel notification. Without this status distinction, it will appear as if we have two or three moored vessels overlapping and an outsider would logically put this down to scheduling problems. With Allberth we can give mooring personnel, the ship’s agent, and the terminal the opportunity to act immediately on the information that we visualize in the application,” Rauer said.

The Port of Gothenburg is the largest port in Scandinavia, handling almost 30% of Swedish foreign trade including exports such as steel, vehicles, and forest products and imports in the form of consumer goods such as clothes, furniture, food, and electronics.

The Latest

More Stories

screenshots of devices with returns apps

Optoro: 69% of shoppers admit to “wardrobing” fraud

With returns now a routine part of the shopping journey, technology provider Optoro says a recent survey has identified four trends influencing shopper preferences and retailer priorities.

First, 54% of retailers are looking for ways to increase their financial recovery from returns. That’s because the cost to return a purchase averages 27% of the purchase price, which erases as much as 50% of the sales margin. But consumers have their own interests in mind: 76% of shoppers admit they’ve embellished or exaggerated the return reason to avoid a fee, a 39% increase from 2023 to 204.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

kion linde tugger truck
Lift Trucks, Personnel & Burden Carriers

Kion Group plans layoffs in cost-cutting plan

robots carry goods through warehouse

Fortna: rethink your distribution strategy for 2025

Facing an evolving supply chain landscape in 2025, companies are being forced to rethink their distribution strategies to cope with challenges like rising cost pressures, persistent labor shortages, and the complexities of managing SKU proliferation.

But according to the systems integrator Fortna, businesses can remain competitive if they focus on five core areas:

Keep ReadingShow less

In Person: Keith Moore of AutoScheduler.AI

Keith Moore is CEO of AutoScheduler.AI, a warehouse resource planning and optimization platform that integrates with a customer's warehouse management system to orchestrate and optimize all activities at the site. Prior to venturing into the supply chain business, Moore was a director of product management at software startup SparkCognition. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering.

Q: Autoscheduler provides tools for warehouse orchestration—a term some readers may not be familiar with. Could you explain what warehouse orchestration means?

Keep ReadingShow less
shopper using smartphone in retail store

EY lists five ways to fortify omnichannel retail

In the fallout from the pandemic, the term “omnichannel” seems both out of date and yet more vital than ever, according to a study from consulting firm EY.

That clash has come as retailers have been hustling to adjust to pandemic swings like a renewed focus on e-commerce, then swiftly reimagining store experiences as foot traffic returned. But even as the dust settles from those changes, retailers are now facing renewed questions about how best to define their omnichannel strategy in a world where customers have increasing power and information.

Keep ReadingShow less
artistic image of a building roof

BCG: tariffs would accelerate change in global trade flows

Geopolitical rivalries, alliances, and aspirations are rewiring the global economy—and the imposition of new tariffs on foreign imports by the U.S. will accelerate that process, according to an analysis by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Without a broad increase in tariffs, world trade in goods will keep growing at an average of 2.9% annually for the next eight years, the firm forecasts in its report, “Great Powers, Geopolitics, and the Future of Trade.” But the routes goods travel will change markedly as North America reduces its dependence on China and China builds up its links with the Global South, which is cementing its power in the global trade map.

Keep ReadingShow less