Maritime Port Management with GIS

Objectives

Maritime transportation has been benefitting the humankind since ages whether it being used for trading or transportation, since past few decades we are observing a rapid increase in international and inland waterway on world scale, currently, about 90 percent of intercontinental trade is handled by sea transport.

Sea port forms a platform where all the administrative, financial, and planning of management of ports takes place. There are many environmental, socio-cultural and financial challenges faced during planning and management of ports therefore forming a strong and firm maritime policy is the need of the time. 

The introduction of GIS & GPS provides topographical and geotechnical details in maritime port management. This helps in developing cost effective design alternatives related to local site conditions and planning for the mitigation measures.
 

Why need GIS for port and maritime management:

• Port Design, Infrastructure and Expansion Planning – During this stage, reconnaissance surveys are carried out and two or three alternatives are studied in detail. all critical information such proximity to road, rail or air stations and container and freight stationing places are recorded. In addition, environmental and social details are also noted. The collected information is transferred to Geographical Information systems (GIS) and the optimum site is selected ensuring that the alignment avoids areas of significant natural resources and areas of cultural importance. 
   

          

• Security Operations – Maritime security has become a major concern for all coastal nations. A number of issues and questions emerged regarding the perception, preparation, mitigation and gaps in any maritime threat. To secure the maritime security, effectively use human intelligence and artificial intelligence is required. This supplemented by Topographic Maps, Hydrographic Charts as well as geospatial technologies like the GIS, Satellite imageries and Digital mapping, will go a long way to achieve this goal.

                 

• Emergency Response and Management – GIS enables efficient real time monitoring of the fleet using GSM/ GPRS technology and keeps the authorities informed about the fleet's whereabouts, moreover creating computer-generated maps like hazard maps, cyclone maps so that it can be referenced in preparedness, emergency and recovery efforts. GIS aids in modeling for emergency situations, such as tsunamis, hurricanes, chemical incidents, oil spills training emergency management teams to prepare for such incidents.

 

• Port Operations and intermodal Management –  Port operations and management includes determination of the capital investments and operational changes with management and planning of the Special economic zones (SEZ) and Infrastructure planning for the employees working on the ports. 

 

• Land use planning of ports – As part of a multi-disciplinary planning, the land use classification is performed to evaluate the potential of significant portions of the port to better support its maritime and civic mission, providing a range of commercial and recreational fishing facilities, industrial, office and open space and provide opportunities for mixed-use development consistent with the Port’s economic development mission.

                   

• Navigation – GIS coupled with GPS has eased the maritime operations manifolds being it aiding mariners to navigate, measure speed, and determine location. This enables increased levels of safety and efficiency for mariners worldwide. Navigation is key to the efficient management and handling of automated container placement in ports. GPS facilitates the automation of the pick-up, transfer, and placement process of containers by tracking them from port entry to exit resulting greatly in reduced number of lost or misdirected containers and lowered associated operation costs.

                     

Conclusion

GIS techniques is important in achieving greater efficiency and improvising different facilities and achieving them at optimum level. Visualization, modeling and analysis functionalities of GIS with locational information plays a significant role in planning and development of ports. While remote sensing helps in preparation of various hazard maps and tsunami or cyclone forecasting, GIS can be used for studying and analyzing those maps and mitigating the dangers.