Ports must share data language and standards, says digital expert

This was the message from a panel of experts during the 'Technological & Digital Advancement in Port Terminals' session moderated by Ian Richardson, CEO & co-founder, theICEway at Seatrade Cruise Med in Malaga.

The panel comprised Tomaso Cognolato, CEO and GM / president of Terminal Napoli, Luca Pronzati, chief digital technology officer at MSC Cruises and new face to the industry, and Julian Panter, CEO, SmartSea.  

SmartSea

Today, the cruise industry is behind the aviation sector in digital and technological standards. 

SmartSea is a new venture launched jointly by Columbia Shipmanagement and SITA. 

SITA is the IT provider for the air transport industry, delivering solutions for airlines, airports, aircraft and governments, including the baggage tag system used globally. 

Not short of ambition, the mission of SITA's 50% subsidiary SmartSea is, in the words of Panter, ‘creating a maritime data backbone’. 

Wednesday's session at Seatrade Cruise Med, taking place at the Trade Fairs & Congress Center of Málaga in Spain from September 11-12, illustrated there is a need for innovation.  

Traditional approach: additional checks, extra work

The highly standardised aviation sector stands in contrast to procedures followed at cruise ports where baggage is not tagged, and data often arrives in unpractical formats resulting in extra work. 

Related:Cruise associations announce coalition at Seatrade Cruise Med

Cognolato said handling four cruise ships today not only means encountering four different customer groups but working with four divergent IT systems. 

Port operators receive lists of embarking or transiting passengers, in the best case, as an Excel file, said Cognolato, but often as a pdf document. 

Often containing additional, unnecessary data, these files are transferred to the port's/terminal's own software, with irrelevant data omitted at the same time. This process needs to be conducted within a short period of time, often less than 24 hours. 

While the ship is in port, the terminal operator's staff must frequently work with hardware borrowed from the ship, as their own equipment is unable to read the data contained on passenger cruise cards or tags. 

Due to this incompatibility, passengers typically have to be rescanned once they physically board the ship. 

Analysing these processes, Panter said there were fundamental differences between the aviation sector and the maritime industry - differences which have their roots in the history of both sectors. The younger aviation industry embraced technology while the traditional maritime sector had to adapt. 

Panter acknowledged it was difficult to change the related mindset, but at the same time, asserted it was critical to do so, specifying a need to create one common language. 

Cognolato supported this view, highlighting the importance of organising port procedures in the smoothest way possible. 

New MSC terminal at Miami illustrates technological potential

Discussing MSC Cruises' new PortMiami terminal, Pronzati said a modern cruise terminal – embracing the potential of digitalisation and other technologies, such as biometric gates – is no longer simply a vision. Tailored to handle up to 18,000 passengers at a time, the terminal, including its adjacent car park, has been tailored to provide quick and easy access, also using  automation to make the life of staff as stress free as possible. 

The new terminal has dedicated lanes applying biometric checks, including a check to determine if the passenger is actually onboard, avoiding the additional manual cruise card scan upon embarkation. 

The technology is linked with the check-in process and parking at the terminal; passengers can choose to opt-out to be processed 'conventionally' if preferred.

A limitation to this technology is that it is designed strictly for MSC ships. 

The lack of a common data language therefore continues to pose challenges, suggesting more standardisation will be positive for the further development of the cruise sector.