Ship-Shore Interaction: The Model in the Middle

Abstract

The complex picture of maritime transport involving more than 100 thousand ships, more than 8000 ports and a large number of stakeholders fulfilling different roles and being responsible for different processes means that providing up-to-date and timely information during port calls is a complex task. In addition, there are requirements to reduce both the environmental footprint and costs of the maritime transport. From 2019, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) made it mandatory to accept electronic clearance of ships entering foreign ports, meaning that the digitalization of ship-port interfaces to support the port call processes has become an important topic. Further, this means that the interoperability between a large number of ICT systems to support the end-users related to a port call, must be ensured. This paper describes the model in the middle, by which we mean a "least common multiple" regarding data elements and data models to support a consistent exchange of information between preferably all involved stakeholders during a port call.