Deploying technology to create one of Europe’s smartest ferry ports

Transforming a rapidly growing port

Rosslare Europort is one of Ireland’s busiest ports, with 36 direct RoPax sailings to Europe weekly. As the port continues to grow in the wake of Brexit, a holistic and real-time view of terminal processes will be essential to keeping its operations efficient and productive.

To deliver these improvements, the port has partnered with Brock Solutions and Agicon to design and implement a port terminal management system, alongside a plan to transform its physical and technical infrastructure.

Digitalisation at the RoRo terminal will replace manual operations with automated solutions and software – making Rosslare Europort one of the smartest ferry ports in Europe.

Brock Solutions plans to achieve this using SmartPort, a module built upon SmartSuite, its centralised database and application platform. But it also needs support from specialist subject matter experts with the right experience to overcome design and digital transformation challenges.

Calling on smart port expertise

Brock Solutions chose Royal HaskoningDHV to consult on the project, based on our 140 years of maritime engineering experience and specialist knowledge of ferry ports and the deployment of smart port technology.

Along with cutting-edge camera and gate automation technology from Agicon and Adaptive Recognition, we’ll be guiding Brock Solutions through the challenges of implementing a new common check-in and freight tracking system, assisting with port operations and performance monitoring, and advising where best to use automation to increase efficiency and visibility.

Our team will also work alongside the team at the port and Brock Solutions to provide crucial insight into the operation and design of technology adoption in ferry terminals.

A truly smart port – with greater efficiency and visibility

With the right expertise, Brock Solutions will be able to use SmartPort to bring new capabilities to Rosslare Europort, and develop one of the smartest ferry ports in Europe.

This will streamline entry and exit processes for the port’s freight and passenger traffic – reducing errors and wait times and allowing self-service check-in for some vehicles.

The new smart port tools will also empower operational staff with increased visibility of storage yards by enabling better monitoring, improving capacity management andaccelerating retrieval of stored trailers by making it easier to find relevant units with automated location tracking.

Meanwhile, digitalising the port’s operations will remove the need for paper-based tracking for trailer movements and vessel manifests. Repetitive paperwork tasks will be automated – driving operational performance and flexibility and improving the customer experience for freight and tourist passengers.

And crucially, by increasing productivity across operational staff and equipment by optimising time-consuming tasks, Rosslare Europort will also see a reduction to its overall carbon footprint.