In an increasingly competitive space, ports that are more sustainable gain a clear advantage. After all, embracing sustainability leads to more efficient port operations, higher ESG scores, and a better public image – all of which can help the port edge out over its competitors. To this end, ports need strategies centered on digitalization and decarbonization. This demands both technical innovation and highly trained personnel – a combination that simulation training excels at providing. By enabling operators to practice scenarios and hone skills in a virtual environment, simulation training offers a way to make ports faster, safer and greener. Here’s how!
The way a port approaches training has knock-on effects that ripple throughout the entire operation. This is because simulation training has the capacity to reduce emissions in several ways, among others, during training and operations, as well as by reducing vessel idle times with more streamlined and efficient operations. Substantial gains in safety also cannot be overlooked.
To begin with, using simulation during operator training reduces the use of real equipment for learning purposes, often by as much as 40%. “When it comes to training and simulation, reducing emissions can mean being able to have less reliance on actual equipment when you’re training your operators,” said my colleague Yannick Lefebvre, Technical Sales Manager and Port Industry Subject Matter Expert at CM Labs Simulations, in our recent webinar, Green Ports and Practices: Simulation Training and Sustainability in Action. Simulation training provides immediate reductions in emissions, simultaneously speeding up training times – as operators are no longer dependent on equipment availability.
Simulation can also lead to measurable changes in productivity, which, in turn, allows operators to do more while burning less fuel. “If you can have operators that are more efficient, that get more moves per hour in, that understand their yard layouts, understand better how to drive around and move boxes around, you’re also taking less time to do things, thus having fewer emissions,” Lefebvre noted.
ZHD Stevedores, an independent company operating port terminals in the Netherlands, saw a substantial improvement in operator productivity after adding simulation into its training program. “I notice that people come in, and their increase in production on a simulator is quite rapid,” said Alain Bornet, Managing Director of ZHD. “They come in at 40 minutes to an hour for 550 tonnes of bulk material moved, and after a couple of sessions, they’re already in the 20-to-30-minute range.”
Such changes in productivity, multiplied over several operators and over many months or years, can be substantial. According to one analysis, improving a ship-to-shore operator’s move per hour from 15 to 19 reduces the amount of machine time needed to move 184 containers by 2.5 hours while simultaneously saving approximately $58,050 per operator in the first 15 shifts after training.
Even when utilizing electric equipment, these changes in productivity still affect vessel idle times and environmental impact. “There’s a bit of a falsehood that going electric just means we’re not emitting anymore,” underlined Lefebvre. “Something has to generate that power upstream. And if you’re inefficient in your operations – even if you’re using cleaner energy – you’re still wasting energy in getting the work done, so there’s really a number of aspects to consider.”
Read the full article discussing the impact simulation training can have on a port’s sustainable development in Baltic Transport Journal’s November/December 2024 Magazine, p42-p43.
