Meet Mark, Leading Professional Smart Ports

Making ports and terminals more efficient, safe and sustainable

Many areas of port & cargo terminal operations can be streamlined and improved by deploying technology and improved working practices. As our Leading Professional Smart Ports, Mark plays an essential role. “In my role, I work on various projects related to port systems, technology and automation, as well as promoting our services in the industry. Most of the projects I work on focus on the operational side of the business. So the clients who have their terminals or ports up and running. Then we help our clients with questions such as: how can we make our port more efficient using technology, and how do we make them safer and more sustainable?”

The right level of technology, now and in the future

“And despite what people might think, automating everything is not always the best option. This requires a big investment, and if that’s feasible or not depends on quite a number of factors. Take labour availability, for example. Unlike many European countries, where there is a general labour shortage, there also are many countries and clients that are interested in creating jobs and automating everything does not contribute to this goal. But automation can be very useful in making the operation safer because it allows you to remove people from dangerous parts of the process where accidents are more likely to happen.”

“But besides the operational side, we also advise our clients more strategically. For example, what sort of systems should they have in place and what they should think about in the future? To do this, we look at all sorts of technology trends. Not just in the port industry but also technology developments in all kinds of industries.”

Study of the current state of digitalisation in African ports

We work on a wide variety of projects. Sometimes small, sometimes big. Take, for example, one of the projects Mark is currently working on. “One of the projects I’m working on is a Port Digitalization Study in Africa. This study covers 31 countries and 39 ports and looks at digitalisation in these different environments. And because some of the countries and companies we speak with for this study are speaking, for example, French or Portuguese, and we try to do most of the interviews face to face while limiting the amount of travelling, we work together with local colleagues and partners a lot.”

“It is an interesting study to work on, both in terms of what ports have in place and what they plan to implement. But we also look at the overall supporting policy and regulatory environment, not only in terms of legislation and policy frameworks but also the infrastructure level where we look at, for example, fibre optic cabling infrastructure, wireless coverage, 5G coverage and data centres. By doing this, we can analyse which factors influence the level of maturity in the different ports.”

What makes our organisation nice to work for, according to Mark

At Royal HaskoningDHV, we firmly believe that with our expertise, experience and talented and knowledgeable people, we are in a unique position to enhance society together, now and for the future. “One of the things I like about the organisation is the high level of professional people that work here with very diverse and specialised skills. It is good to have that available and be able to offer that. And besides the people, I also like the focus on sustainability. It’s hugely important for both our clients and our organisation, which I am personally aligned with as well.”

We trust our employees and care about their well-being. “Within this organisation, I experience a lot of independence and flexibility. You are responsible for your own work and for delivering your projects. You are trusted to get the work done, manage your workload, and deliver high-quality work. All while still having respect for the work-life balance.”