Development of the framework for a lean, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly port: umm qasr port as a Case Study

The research focus is to examine rigorously how the implementation of Lean within the Umm Qasr Port improves the operation processes and to explore the Lean impact on environment improvement and energy efficiency management. In this research, the ROPMEE model has been developed by the researcher to evaluate the service quality in the cargo delivery process in the Port of Umm Qasr as it covers all the functional and non-functional areas in the cargo delivery process compared to other quality dimensions. The findings confirm that the process quality dimension is the most influential factor in service quality in the Port of Umm Qasr. The reasons for the poor performance of current practices adopted by the port are the use of traditional ways of information flow and a decision-making process that requires more time and steps within the whole process. The lack of smooth process flow is a potential cause of bottlenecks within port operation that create serious problems not only for the customer but also for the port itself. In this research, a visual representation is created of how the current value stream map for different port processes has been established on the identification and elimination of non- value-added activity or “waste” involved in delivering services in Umm Qasr port for customers. A VSM tool was applied to visually map the cargo handling flow, ship entrance, ship maneuvering and cargo clearance to display the current and future states of processes in a way that highlights opportunities for improvement. Based on the defined and classified waste according to the seven deadly wastes of Lean, this research suggests a future value stream map for port processes. The impact of the identified wastes has been quantified in terms of cost, carbon dioxide emissions working time efficiency, and energy consumption cost. This research is the first attempt to develop a Lean port model for improving port processes, as there have been no previous studies aimed at providing a holistic framework for improving port performance, which can be used by other ports. Implementing the Lean approach requires a gradual shift in work culture by involving all port employees and customers in the continuous improvement process and changing the service delivery from a push to pull system

Implementation of vessel traffic services in Iranian waters

The Persian Gulf is known as one of the special areas, under the MARPOL 1973/78 and its protocol. The degree of maritime contamination in this sensitive area is about forty times as much as the maximum allowable ceiling. This and the rapid increase in the traffic density in these sensitive waters have raised critical concern among the officials of my country the Islamic Republic of Iran . The aim of this dissertation is to recommend various proposals to achieve safer and expeditious movement of traffic in the Iranian part of these sensitive and congested area. A general analysis of Iranian harbour and their services is given. The present status of maritime traffic safety including the existing navigational aids and equipment are described and suggestions for improvement are made

How a ship´s bridge knows its position - ECDIS assisted accidents from a contemporary human factors perspective

The technological artifacts used in ship navigation have undergone substantial changes during the last decades, and real-time digital navigation is a reality with the introduction of the ECDIS. Despite the obvious merits of this new navigation mode, and the imagined improvement in safety that it theoretically should bring, ECDIS has in recent years been associated with several accidents. The term ECDIS assisted accidents has emerged in official accident investigation reports and is widely used among the applied technology community as well as having led to the term reverberating the RADAR assisted accidents that the maritime industry has used following the introduction of the RADAR. Despite the focus on the causal contribution from the interplay between the ECDIS and the navigator, the conclusions in the official accident investigation reports are predominantly directed towards the abilities of the ECDIS operator to use the equipment properly, and to a lesser extent on the features of the ECDIS. The reports do not at all investigate how the equipment could have helped navigators, by offering better support in reaching their contextual goals, i.e., to remain in control of the ship and to maintain safe navigation. Parallel accounts emanating from the applied community of ship navigation seem to suggest that functioning of the ECDIS is far from perfect, and at times is considered suboptimal by navigators. The ambition driving this thesis work was to explore these second stories about navigation with ECDIS, based on operator experiences, in order to gain leverage for new ways to inform future development and design of ECDIS, which to a higher degree would need to take into account the contextual conditions and demands that operators experience in the field of practice, and thereby to minimize the gap between how designers, and other remote stakeholders, imagine ECDIS operations, and how these actually play out. Naturalistic research was carried out by attending three ships ́ bridges while the ships were operating. Insights were gained into what sometimes make work difficult during navigation by ECDIS. The findings were juxtaposed with information found in three official accident accounts of ECDIS assisted accidents, and finally the results were discussed based on a theoretical framework based on contemporary human factors and systems safety research literature, including Cognitive Systems Engineering. Thus, it was concluded how the methods applied in this thesis work, and its findings, could be useful to future ECDIS design and development

Exploration and implementation of Seaport Manatee to relieve the supply chain congestion at California ports

For the global economy to thrive, a stable supply chain network is imperative to provide control of the seamless flow of goods. What is detrimental to supply chain performance due to inconsistency can be costly and consequently cause out-of-stock items, deficient use of container storage capacity and faulty logistics planning. This feasibility study examined leadership decisions in the face of supply chain turbulence. The analysis introduces the congestion free SeaPort Manatee in Palmetto, Florida. It establishes how this seaport could offer an alternative sea trade path to alleviate the supply chain strain since the U.S. will most likely continue to experience an increase in global trade instability. As the closest U.S. port to the Panama Canal, the study, in part, explores the significance of the canal as a primary conduit that allows Panamax and Neo-Panamax vessels expeditious transit from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast. Together with the new locks, the canal can handle ships with an overall length of 1200 feet, 160 feet wide (beam) and a draft of 40 feet. Consequently, not all vessels can travel through the Panama Canal regardless of its newly expanded locks (Rosenberg, 2019). The study also presents data to show how some cargo vessels sailing into Sea Port Manatee have a deep draft, which results in them being restricted by tidal ocean conditions. The draft is the minimum amount of water required to float the boat without it touching the bottom, allowing container vessels to successfully transport up to 15,000 (TEU) cargo containers through the canal. Catastrophic events such as natural disasters, a volatile political climate, and a health pandemic directly impact a company\u27s business strategy. This study addresses the challenge for leadership to make decisions to relieve the congestion at U.S. West Coast ports. By engaging in conversations with vessel shipping lines, shipping lines could create new sea trade routes in exchange for inefficient routes between Asia and the U.S. West Coast. This study introduced how sea-level rise will significantly influence port expansion at Sea Port Manatee and how vessels entering and exiting the port must do so under specific conditions

Vessel Traffic Services, towards e-Navigation : the role of Oceanic VTS in global maritime surveillance

This thesis presents the study and analysis of the Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), from its origins to the present, with further evaluation of future trends. Examining the current trend in terms of technologies that are being applied in the maritime sector, the dissertation focuses on the future to draw a new paradigm. This envisages a scenario at a planetary level, following a single global traffic management system, which would create a model of the global VTS Operator. A new assignment is proposed, according to this third dimension, with Port VTS being the first level, the Coastal VTS second, and with the Oceanic VTS projected into the future, which is a substantial proposal. The foundation is based on EU projects, the most ambitious of which, currently underway, being Sea Traffic Management (STM), with a scope greater than Europe, and also on IALA VTS and ENAV Committee Working Groups, concerning the future of VTS. The study includes the reference documentation from the IMO, in resolution format, and that of the IALA, under Standards, Recommendations and Guidelines. From the first recognition of the IMO to the present, the guidelines for VTS have undergone three updates, which are analysed and compared. VTS are considered aids to navigation, AtoN, which contribute to safety of life at sea, safety and efficiency of navigation and protection of the marine environment, and are linked to ship traffic activity. Both their attributions and the implementation of VTS centres have increased over time. In addition to this, the evolution of the tools used by the VTS is examined, from its earliest stages with only two pieces of equipment, the VHF radio, and the radar. The VTS system began by looking at the air traffic model but, later, the maritime nature created necessary differentiation in terms of management and procedures. Digital technologies applied to the maritime sector take air traffic controllers’ models as a reference, and the current VTS Operator profession will acquire analogies, such as sharing route plans and checking digital inputs. This highly specialised profession is facing the challenges of satellite technology, global interconnection, and the arrival of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). New technologies bring the possibility of sharing information and controlling traffic on a global scale, beyond the territorial sea, and this scenario will make standardisation increasingly necessary throughout the maritime sector. The identification of various models of traffic management, examination of systems operating specifically in the Spanish State and reflection on the diversity that prevails is also included. Based on fieldwork, the thesis determines that the future complexities that will emerge from maritime traffic will require exhaustive risk assessment and analysis. The challenges to be faced involve maritime communications via satellite and digital technology, in the context of ‘e-Navigation’ (coined by the IMO), which will provide emerging tools, such as VDES (next generation of AIS), and a planetary-scale information exchange framework for VTS worldwide.Aquesta tesi presenta l'estudi i l'anàlisi dels Serveis de Tràfic Marítim (VTS) des dels seus orígens fins al present, avaluant tendències futures. Examinant el corrent actual en referència a les tecnologies que s'estan aplicant al sector marítim, la tesi s’orienta al futur per delinear un nou paradigma. Un escenari a nivell planetari, que segueix un únic sistema de gestió de tràfic global, i que crearà un model d'operador VTS global. Es proposa una nova assignació acord a aquesta tercera dimensió, sent el VTS Port, el primer, el VTS Costaner, el segon, i es projecta a futur el VTS Oceànic, que és la proposta substancial. La fundació es basa en projectes de la UE, on és el més ambiciós i actualment en marxa el Sea Traffic Management (STM), amb un abast superior a l'europeu i amb els grups de treball del Comitè VTS i ENAV de la IALA sobre l’esdevenidor del VTS. L’estudi inclou documentació de referència procedent de la IMO, en format resolucions; i la procedent de la IALA, sota estàndards, recomanacions i directrius. Des del primer reconeixement de la IMO fins ara, les directrius per als VTS han passat per tres actualitzacions, que s'analitzen i es comparen. Els VTS es consideren ajuts a la navegació, AtoN, que contribueixen a la seguretat de la vida humana al mar, la seguretat i l'eficiència de la navegació i la protecció del medi marí i estan vinculats a l'activitat del trànsit de vaixells, i tant les seves atribucions com la implantació de centres VTS han augmentat al llarg de temps. A més a més d'això, s'examina l'evolució de les eines utilitzades pel VTS, des de les seves primeres etapes amb només dos equips, la ràdio VHF i el radar. El sistema VTS es va iniciar fixant-se en el model aeri, però posteriorment la naturalesa marítima els va diferenciar pel que fa a gestió i procediments. Les tecnologies digitals aplicades al sector marítim prenen com a referència models similars als controladors aeris, i l'actual professió d'Operador VTS assolirà analogies com ara compartir plans de ruta amb els vaixells i comprovació d'inputs digitals. Una professió altament especialitzada que s'enfronta als reptes de la tecnologia satel·litària, la interconnexió mundial i l'arribada dels vaixells marítims autònoms de superfície (MASS). Les noves tecnologies porten la possibilitat de compartir informació i controlar el tràfic a escala global, més enllà del mar territorial, i aquest escenari farà que l'estandardització sigui cada cop més necessària a tot el sector marítim. Es considera la identificació de diversos models de gestió del tràfic, els sistemes que operen específicament a l'Estat espanyol i la reflexió sobre la diversitat que preval. A partir d'un treball de camp, la tesi determina que les complexitats que emergiran del tràfic marítim requeriran avaluació i anàlisi de riscos exhaustius. Els reptes que cal afrontar són aquells que inclouen les comunicacions marítimes via satèl·lit i la tecnologia digital en el context de l'e-Navegació, encunyat per la IMO, que proporcionaran eines emergents, com els VDES (propera generació de l’AIS), i un marc d’intercanvi d’informació a escala planetària per als VTS de tot el món.Postprint (published version