PortCDM

is a concept to support those engaged in, or associated with, port call operations. It aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of activities in any port by providing a framework for data sharing, enhanced collaboration, and common situational awareness.

PortCDM is an organizational concept aimed at enabling more predictable timings and operations in sea transport by building on unified and standardized data exchange protocols. PortCDM addresses the need to ensure a continuous flow of data about intentions, outcomes, and possible disruptions related to movements and service provision among all those involved in the berth-to-berth maritime transport process. It also aims at contributing to the operational aspects of a well-coordinated port as a transport hub in the larger transportation ecosystem. This results in a high degree of predictability in the planning and execution of all associated operations and activities contributing to just-in-time operations. Through its technical and operational guidelines, PortCDM enables all the actors involved to share the same situational awareness based on input from multiple sources of up-to-date spatial-temporal data. The availability of such a holistic view enables and fosters collaboration. In turn, this enables efficient and successful coordination and synchronization, which benefits everyone, not least the end customer or recipient of the goods being transported.

The PortCDM process is intended to be dynamic and transparent through the use of standardized messaging and interfaces that trigger and prompt the various actors to review exception alerts and take actions based upon their physical capabilities, preferences, and requirements. Provided everyone is kept informed, multiple revisions or iterations to plans can take place during a single port call while at the same time minimising the overall disruption to the final outcomes.

PortCDM does not necessarily calls for process changes but focuses on a more dynamic and effective delivery of the existing processes through greater collaboration and the availability of high quality, near real-time data to all the relevant and authorised actors in the maritime transportation ecosystem. PortCDM will be underpinned by appropriate protocols to ensure robust data integrity and access control. PortCDM comes with a framework for maturity levels supporting ports, with its actors, to successively develop their PortCDM maturity on data sharing and collaboration. The PortCDM concept is maintained by the International PortCDM Council (IPCDMC) (www.ipcdmc.org) aimed at catering for the emergence of the PortCDM concept on a global level. 

 S-211

is used for port call messages by allowing standardized sharing of data on intentions and outcomes of movements, services, and administrative events on a given port call.

Building upon the foundational logic of the port call process, conceived as different inter-related events, the S-211 port call message format is a response to the lack of standards for sharing data on port call timing between involved actors. This format is a standard within the IMO common maritime data structure (CMDS), that captures a number of aligned standards used in maritime transports, as a means for realizing the e-navigation strategy of IMO. In that sense the port call message format is a thin, interoperable standard, and not part of a larger standardization monolith (such as the standards maintained by UN/CEFACT or WCO). It is aimed to lower the thresholds for involved parties to share business critical, but not business sensitive data. The S-211 standard allows the participants to share data about intentions (plans, estimations, actuals, requests, and recommendations) associated to movements or services. S-211 also covers the opportunities for sharing data about the process of coming to agreements of services. S-211 is unique as it is reflecting a high precision in the details that it is communicating, such as the location and timing of the arrival and departure, allowing for standardized and precise ship-to-port, port-to-ship, port-to-port, as well as port actor-to-port actor data exchange, contributing to efficient coordination of port calls being at focus within the PortCDM concept.