Marine terminal operations management is a facility in a harbour where cargo is handled. Port terminals operations contain equipment for loading and unloading cargo along with facilities for storage of said cargo. Manufacturing and processing facilities are often located near a marine terminal but they are not technically considered part of the terminal. Marine terminals are sometimes referred to as docks. When ships come into port, they need an area to secure themselves so that they can be loaded and unloaded. Docking facilities at a marine terminal allow a ship to tie up for this purpose. While many ships have equipment on board for cargo handling, for big and specialty cargo, the cranes and lifts at a marine terminal may be useful or necessary. Many ports have extensive container terminals, marine terminals designed specifically for handling container ships and their loads. These include storage areas for shipping containers, both full and empty. Specialty cargo which cannot fit in containers or is being transported by other needs may also have some unique storage needs such as climate controlled storage, another feature available at many marine terminals.
Terminal Operating System (TOS) – is an essential tool within a marine terminal or port terminal to manage and control the movement and storage of various types of cargo (container, break bulk/project cargo, liquid bulk, etc.). The objective of a marine terminal system is to provide a set of computerized procedures to manage cargo, machines and people within the facility to enable a seamless link to efficiently and effectively manage the facility. A marine terminal software system can manage all types of ports – container terminals, multi-purpose terminals as well as universal terminals or river terminals.
This kind of system is designed for marine terminals and it incorporates all aspects of a terminal’s operation from the gate, to the yard and vessel. It covers for instance manual or automated yard and vessel planning, equipment control, billing and reporting as main features. The system should be able to be fully integrated with any third party sub-system or device and processes many forms of EDI messages. Basically marine terminal systems can be standalone systems, managed as a service or utilize cloud technologies.
In some regions of the world, it is possible to find offshore terminals. This is most common in oil producing nations, where large oil tankers are too big to get into harbour and they are instead loaded and unloaded offshore. These marine terminals can accommodate several large ships at once and they are continually resupplied to ensure that tankers will always be able to fill up. For people who need to go ashore, boats usually run back and forth between the terminals and the shore and transport can be arranged.
Container terminals are very complex and highly capital intensive. They must be well managed to realize their potential capacity and to deliver a reasonable level of efficiency and service performance to their customers. A container terminal management system is also known as a terminal operating system (TOS) which aims to control the overall movement and storage of various types of cargo (in this case container) within a container terminal.
The needs for super-sized and high-performance terminals are rising as international trade and numbers of large vessels have increased. Overall productivity and efficiency of terminals is becoming more important in the global competition between the terminals, and the increase of throughput and demands for efficiency is requesting terminals to become more optimized.
Terminal Operating System (TOS) applies the latest IT technology for the needs; it guarantees high system reliability with transaction load balancing at peak time. Moreover, TOS offers a high system flexibility & scalability which enables customers to save the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). For that matter, there is always a natural instinct to choose a proper TOS for the terminal itself for better performance.
Technology can play an important role in enhancing the port efficiency. New-age technology tools like the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, block chain technology, cloud-based services, and connected platforms can go a long way towards overhauling the conventional operations of the port.
Benefits of Maritime Terminal Operations
- Boosts terminal throughput
- Provides dynamic response to meet real- time operational requirements
- Exhaustive optimization modules to automate decisions
- Better operational visibility across terminals
- Reducing turnaround times
- Maximise Revenue
- Lower OPEX
- Optimised planning and equipment deployment
- All billable activities captured
Challenges Faced by Maritime Terminal Operation
The rising demand and emergence of mega vessels puts immense pressure on sea ports and terminal operators, in achieving utmost customer satisfaction while dealing with key challenges related to operational efficiency for achieving faster turnaround time (TAT), optimum utilization of scarce port capacities and assets, seamless flow and availability of information among operational entities and to minimize dependence on manpower for safety and environment compliance.
Conclusion-
The main challenges that ports face can be resolved by integrating Smart Port solutions and strategies. Maritime terminal Operations are an important part of the ecosystem to conduct operations efficiently and reducing turnaround times.
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