XVELA, the world’s first maritime business network for ocean carriers and terminal operators, announced that Haina International Terminals (HIT) has implemented XVELA’s collaborative berth tool application. The application allows real-time collaboration between the terminal and the carrier and local agencies, increasing the service quality to the customer, reducing idle time and improving the use of berth space and associated resources for RIO HAINA, the only truly multipurpose port terminal in Dominican Republic and one of the main ports in the Caribbean region.

‍Due to increased pressure to improve supply chain predictability, establishing certainty around the berth time of a container ship is one of the main challenges the industry faces today. Currently, many terminals create their berthing prospects according to the long-term schedules (pro-forma) provided by the carriers. However, the reality of daily business (e.g. weather conditions, breakdowns, operational issues and lack of visibility) forces both parties to change these berthing prospects for almost all ship calls.

‍Traditionally, berth changes have been processed via emails and phone calls across multiple closed systems.  This creates significant inefficiencies with real operational costs due to excessive fuel consumption, wasted stevedoring resources, missed pilot schedules, suboptimal berth utilization, or missed berth prospects on arrival or departure, creating even further operational costs downstream.  Ultimately this can all be attributed to lack of collaboration and real-time visibility between the key stakeholders.

‍XVELA’s collaborative berth tool application addresses these issues for HIT by giving carriers, terminals, agents and port authorities visibility into each other’s status, enabling all players to optimize their operations.

‍“With XVELA we will be able to allocate the resources to operate all the vessels in an efficient environment to boost both productivity and revenue,” said Armando Rivas, VP of Operations at HIT.  “XVELA’s collaborative berth tool application will help us deliver forward in time to local agents and line carriers whether we can receive vessels at a specific date and time and give them options as to when will be better for them to arrive to avoid delays and costs.  We will be able to better allocate and plan for resources at the terminal to maximize our assets and investments.”

‍The collaborative berth tool application provides real-time visibility and estimated time of arrival (ETA) values aligned with validated berth prospects. It also enables ocean carriers to determine their navigation routes and the speed required by their vessels, thus optimizing fuel consumption. Real-time collaboration between the terminal, local agents and carriers using the same platform increases the service quality provided to the customer and improves the use of berth space and related stowage decisions while reducing idle time. In addition, it avoids wasting expensive stevedoring resources by ensuring vessels will arrive at the designated times. Real-time incremental move count information complementing pro-forma counts with downstream terminal arrival conditions, carrier stowage instructions and terminal plans improves the collaboration required for optimal berth prospects. Connectivity with the TOS makes it possible to know in real time any variations in the estimated times of completion for operations, enabling collaborative decision-making in the event of overlaps with future operations  or required adjustments to meet specific deadlines.