3. Ship invoicing

Based on shipping line preferences, ports must prepare the documentation necessary for vessel invoicing. Marine and harbour charges, docking, garbage removal, and crew transport - all these must be invoiced for each and every vessel that enters a port.

Moreover, rail cost, security, power, and customer-required movement must be charged per container, for all vessel containers. To complicate things even more, these charges vary by line, kind of service, and container type. Consequently, multiple systems (e.g., operations, email, finance) need to be used for manually capturing and assessing the data, and then for actually producing the invoices for the shipping lines.

Obviously, this is is not only a tedious job, but also extremely time consuming. Software bots, on the other hand, can seamlessly integrate these various systems, output shipping line-specific invoices, and forward the invoices to the finance department.

By automating the process, several sub-processes of manual invoicing, such as barcoding or scanning, are deemed unnecessary. This makes both employees and customers more satisfied, by freeing the former to focus on more valuable tasks, and by improving standardisation and conformity with customers’ requirements.

4. Within- and between-ports communication

Automating port communication is an illustrative example of leveraging the potential of both robotic process automation and cloud-based technologies. In the 21st century, greater connectivity among ports enabling real-time information sharing, is central for prosperous maritime business inasmuch as it promises to bring about an increase in the cost-effectiveness of services.

If you only consider the ease of data collection on cloud servers, and of data access and translation by means of cloud computing, as well as how these processes enables self-navigation, you are one step closer to grasping the potential of digitally-supported connectivity.

Cloud platforms can link the portuary industrial machinery to the digital system, allowing for full connectivity both within- and between-ports. RPA can also be helpful for sidestepping the difficulty of Cloud use for maritime companies that are highly attached to their legacy systems.

The outcome is a significant rise in the precision, and safety of vessel mooring. Finally, the impact of mooring acceleration on waiting times reduction and cost savings should also be taken into account when evaluating the perspective of connectivity as a use case of RPA for ports.

Conclusion

Only around 10% of the total global terminal footprint in terms of hectares has been automated by mid 2018. So far, automation is most prevalent among large (over 65 hectares) maritime gateways. However, the situation of robotic process automation for ports is rapidly evolving, and it is expected to catch up with RPA deployment in mining or distribution centers.

And this is so for very good reasons. More efficient control of traffic and trade flows, increased port capacity and efficiency, improved oversight of port emissions, improved process flow stability - these are just some of the gains that make RPA so appealing for port managers.

Below we have a case study of RPA implementation in an Australian global facilities management company, that used RPA to automate manufacturer rebate calculations.