What if weather forecasts could be optimized for ports?

Seaport management and efficiency are vital components of the economic lifeline across the maritime industry. Time at anchor in ports needs to be used efficiently to avoid expensive vessel downtime and port services often carry late fees and penalties when appointments are delayed. The challenge of accurately planning port arrival times and scheduling port services has been a challenge in maritime for decades. Weather plays a key role in route planning and port arrival time estimating. Spire Weather launches a new solution this month providing optimized weather forecasts for the busiest ports around the globe.

Our new solution focuses on port weather

Port Optimized Forecast puts the power of accurate, precise weather forecast data around the busiest ports around the world in the hands of port authorities, vessel operators, owners, and managers to make data-driven decisions about daily port operations. Port Optimized Forecast takes into consideration both natural and man-made obstructions at a specific location to deliver a complete analysis of weather patterns in an area. Port operators have been investing in data and technology to build more efficient and sustainable operations and many are implementing advanced weather forecasts to help them accurately plan for an ever-changing climate future. Advances in forecast data collection, including radio occultation, provide more detailed and more accurate forecasts allowing users to react to weather conditions before they occur.

Port Optimized Forecast delivers data beyond air temperature readings and includes dew point temperature, relative humidity, 24-hour minimum, and maximum temperature, precipitation probability, surface wind speed and direction, surface visibility, cloud coverage percentage, ice and thunderstorm probability, and more. It’s truly comprehensive data focused on a specific area, so you have all of the weather variables to make data-driven decisions you can count on.

Weather matters for off-loading cargo

Certain types of cargo, like grain, need to be offloaded in dry weather conditions, making accurate port weather forecasts essential for optimal planning. Port weather can also be used to implement safety precautions at the earliest opportunity, plan for adequate staff, optimize ice and snow clearing resources, and inform customers of likely delays or service interruptions. Weather conditions at ports and terminals can dramatically impact safe and timely shipping operations, which is why shipping lines, ports and terminals carefully monitor the local weather. Access to reliable weather forecasts tailored to a precise location supports safety and operational decisions.

Climate change complicates planning

Last year, climate change delivered a record number of damaging storms especially around the gulf coast, which added costs to dock and warehouse maintenance. Weather forecast data, particularly when optimized for a specific location or point, can help when planning for these storms and timing exactly when a storm necessitates a port closure. After a complicated and costly 2020, port operators are quickly learning the value of assessing incoming storms and timing shutdowns to protect worker safety, import/export schedules, and ship safety. Timing shutdowns is a complicated issue for seaport operators as it results in shipment cancellations and lost revenue. Yet, while shutting down too soon has its drawbacks, shutting down too late also carries a large price tag.

Spire Weather’s Port Optimized Forecast solution learns from local, historical weather, reads local sensors, and takes local weather patterns into consideration for a specific location to provide complete situational awareness at a port issued hourly. Combining Port Point forecast data with Spire Maritime’s Enhanced Satellite AIS data allows you to improve your data-driven decision making and build operational efficiency.

Spire Solutions: The valuable data you need from one single data provider

Spire is revolutionizing how maritime data is collected, analyzed and delivered. Our innovations like Enhanced Satellite AIS solve industry challenges and give our customers a competitive advantage. Our global weather forecast solution is enriched with unique radio occultation data from Spire’s satellite constellation making it more accurate and easy to use.

Easy Integration

Our intelligent and easy to use APIs can be quickly and easily integrated into your analytics platforms. Spire offers comprehensive API documentation for developers, tutorials, and a Public GitHub repository of code samples and integration examples.

Contact us to learn more about our data solutions and free tools that can help you optimize your operations.