New standards for port calls makes the stay much easier

Overview

New definitions for a ship’s stay in port will increase efficiency.

The International Harbour Masters' Association (IHMA) has published a set of functional definitions for port information describing a ship's stay in port. The definitions were developed by several organisations, ports and shipowners. BIMCO was consulted in the process.

The initiative aims to improve communications between ships and ports by using definitions for the various terms used in daily operations. BIMCO hopes that the definitions will be used globally within the shipping industry.

The definitions are based on both existing and newly developed ones. The latter includes names given to areas within a port; terminology associated with restrictions that might be imposed by an authority on a ship’s operations related to ship dimensions, external conditions and berthing; event information associated with arrival and departure times; and nautical and ship service times.

The definitions have been collated in an intermediate document  and will be incorporated in the next version of the Mariners Handbook (NP100) to be published in August 2018 by the UK Hydrographic Office.

The Port Call Optimization concept is further explained in a film now available on YouTube.

 

 

Aron Soerensen
in Copenhagen, DK

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