The Port of Rotterdam has developed a new Internet of Things.

It was recently used for the first time, for the purpose of hydro/meteo. This application represents the next step in safety and efficiency for the Port of Rotterdam. An extensive network of sensors enables the system to supply accurate and current water (hydro) and weather data (meteo) for shipping traffic planning and management in particular.

The development of the IoT platform was announced a year ago by the collaborating partners IBM, Cisco, Esri and Axians, and has now been completed under the management of the Port of Rotterdam. “A fantastic step in the development of Rotterdam as the ‘smartest port’”, says Ronald Paul, Chief Operating Officer of the Port of Rotterdam. “However it is equally important that the cloud platform and the generated real-time information on for example infrastructure, water and weather conditions, allows us to further improve mission-critical processes in the services provided to our clients.”

Hyper-precise data
The generic building blocks currently implemented, offer the Port of Rotterdam a safe and reliable basis for rapid innovation with access to the latest technologies such as edge computing, real-time analytics, artificial intelligent, hyper-precise data and block chain. That is most certainly necessary, because the port area is still very much in development, whereby new physical infrastructure becomes much more digitally oriented, for example. Sensors incorporated on and in quaysides, moorage piles, watercourses, roads and traffic signs, generate continuous monitoring data and can communicate with other autonomous systems. This forms the basis to facilitate autonomous shipping within the Port of Rotterdam in the future.

Read more:

• Port of Rotterdam authority
• Axians in the Netherlands