How Santos Brasil enhances productivity with i4cast®

Picture it is December 31, 2021 and you are a port operations manager at the Port of Santos. Based on what happened the day before, December 30th, you could find yourself in two scenarios:

a. You have a vessel stuck in the berth awaiting release for unberthing and another one on Anchorage waiting to dock; Or,

b. Your line up is very well organized, your customers are satisfied and you will celebrate your new year's eve with no last minute surprises!

Here's what is happening:

Look at this peak in the picture above, the red line indicates the wind gusts forecast for the Port of Santos on December 30th, 2021. On that day, the wind gusts rose from less than 1 knot in the morning to 23.5 knots (43, 5 km/h) at night - a condition that generates restrictions on vessels maneuvering in the navigation channel.

If those gusts of wind were not accurately predicted, it could delay your entire operation. On the other hand, if you received early warnings about the impact of sea and weather conditions on the terminal's operations, you could anticipate changes in environmental conditions, anticipate the vessel's departure and prevent it from waiting at the berth to be released to sail.

The best information for the best decisions.

It was based on the operational insights and alerts sent by i4cast® that Santos Brasil increased the number of equipments in order to finish loading the vessel earlier so that its departure would occur before the predicted closure of the navigation channel.

This operational change allowed the vessel to leave before the bad weather event, which actually closed the port at the exact time as predicted by i4cast®.

As a result, Santos Brasil managed to avoid 6 hours of delay in its operations and that of its client - which reflects on the organization of the line up, in fuel savings and all the benefits of a Just in Time operation.

This is sea and weather intelligence applied to port operations.

And this is not an isolated case, on March 18th, 2022, Santos Brasil anticipated the departure of another vessel due to the proactive planning carried out by understanding the impact of the environmental conditions expected for March 20th.

Terminal productivity was directed towards finishing the vessel, and schedules were adjusted based on the i4cast® forecasts. The next vessel benefited from docking before the port was closed due to bad weather and once again performing a Just in Time operation.

These cases below illustrate how Santos Brasil increases operational efficiency with i4cast®, and how i4sea have gained our customer approval and satisfaction, as seen on the testimonials below:

“The scenario changes a lot, however, with i4cast® we can plan according to changing weather conditions. We are not taken by surprise.” Ronald Hackbarth – Operations Planning Coordinator at Santos Brasill.

“With i4cast® we were able to stay one step ahead of changing weather conditions, independently and autonomously.” Diego Melo – Berthing assistant at Santos Brasil.

“The information is very useful for us to better plan the vessels.” Rafael Mol – Operations Assistant at Santos Brasil.

“It is an indispensable tool in relation to planning.” Carlos Abreu – Berth Operator at Santos Brasil.

“The accuracy in the vessel's departure times increases credibility and confidence with vessel owners.” Emerson Alves – Logistics and Operations Manager at Santos Brasil.

Reference in container operation

Santos Brasil is a reference in container operations in Brazil, responsible for 16% of all container and cargo handling in the country.

The company operates the largest container terminal in Latin America and one of the three most efficient terminals in Brazil – Tecon Santos – combining innovation and technology, with the full support of i4sea® 24/7 with regard to actionable forecasts in impact and risk since 2021.

More intelligence for port operations

i4cast® brings even more intelligence to Santos Brasil operations, with 7-day advance alerts and insights based on the impact of sea and weather conditions on terminal operations. This allows for more assertive decision-making, less risk of planning disruption and, consequently, gains in time, productivity, competitiveness and safety for port operations.

Climate security

As you can see, it is not possible to control the weather, but with sea and weather intelligence it is possible to know in advance the challenges and focus on adapting the operations to increasing safety and efficiency. i4sea's purpose is to help businesses to adapt to increasingly volatile sea and weather conditions, so they can make proactive decisions and become more resilient to current and future climate challenges.

What does a 6-hour savings mean to you?