Developing and Implementing a Port Fluidity Performance Measurement Methodology using Automatic Identification System Data

Abstract

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is responsible for the maintenance of federally authorized navigation channels and associated infrastructure. As such, USACE requires objective performance measures for determining the level of service being provided by the hundreds of maintained navigation projects nationwide. To this end, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center partnered with Texas A&M Transportation Institute to develop a freight fluidity assessment framework for coastal ports. The goal was to use archival automatic identification system (AIS) data to develop and demonstrate how ports can be objectively compared in relation to fluidity, or the turnaround time reliability of oceangoing vessels. The framework allows USACE to evaluate maintained navigation project conditions alongside port system performance indices, thereby providing insight into questions of required maintained channel dimensions. The freight fluidity concept focuses on supply chain performance measures such as travel time reliability and end-to-end shipping costs. Although there are numerous research efforts underway to implement freight fluidity, this is the first known application to U.S. ports. This paper covers AIS data inputs, quality control, and performance measures development, and also provides a demonstration application of the methodology at the Port of Mobile, Alabama, highlighting travel time and travel time reliability operating statistics for the overall port area. This work provides foundational knowledge to practitioners and port stakeholders looking to improve supply chain performance and is also valuable for researchers interested in the development and application of multimodal freight fluidity performance measures.

Freight fluidity for the Port of Baltimore : vessel approach and maritime mobility metrics

“…Previous work by Kruse et al (2018) looked at the deep-draft port of Mobile, AL, over a 2 yr * time-period to evaluate navigation channel performance in terms of fluidity as well as to measure port cycle time and * For a full list of the spelled-out forms of the units of measure used in this document, please refer to US Government Publishing Office Style Manual, 31st ed. (Washington, DC: US Government Publishing Office 2016), 248-52, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016/pdf/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016.pdf.…”

“…Unlike most US coastal port systems, the entering and exiting gateways can be different for the Port of Baltimore if a vessel uses different routes for inbound and outbound trips. In a previous study at the Port of Mobile, Alabama (Kruse et al 2018), the total port system time metric was developed to account for vessels spending time in the outer anchorage area prior to entering the maintained channel. However, for the Port of Baltimore system, there is no comparable outer anchorage where vessels wait before entering the channel at Cape Henry (TP1).…”

“…To conduct mobility analyses, a baseline of comparison is needed to know how the port is operating as compared to normal or unobstructed conditions. Like the Port of Mobile study (Kruse et al 2018), this study used the 25th percentile travel time as a baseline condition. Median travel time was used to calculate the TTI and 80th percentile travel time for planning time index.…”

Analysis of Tugboat Activities using AIS Data for the Tianjin Port

“…Besides, the scope between 25th and 75th percentiles is known as the interquartile range and used to represent the variance of service time ( 20 ). It should be noted that these percentiles are widely applied in previous studies to measure travel time reliability ( 11 , 21 , 22 ).…”

“…In addition to the basic features of ship traffic, AIS data can be analyzed to measure the efficiency of seaport traffic. Kruse et al used ship trajectories to develop a set of port fluidity performance measurements such as total port system time, port cycle time, and travel time inbound/outbound ( 11 ). Mitchell and Scully applied AIS data to evaluate the impact of tidal elevation on port operation ( 12 ).…”