Services for Ships and Stakeholders: Safeguarding the Sea

Introduction

Ports, serving as the epicenter of maritime trade, play a pivotal role in advancing maritime transportation, ensuring it is safer, more efficient, and effective. The provision of diverse services to ships and stakeholders can be broadly categorized into three main groups: fundamental, supportive, and enriching.

Fundamental Services:

1. Pilotage Service:
   • Overseen by pilot captains during a ship’s entry and exit, managing navigation, maneuvering, anchoring, berthing, and unberthing in compliance with regional conditions and safety regulations.
2. Towing Service:
   • Utilizing tugboats with powerful engines for assisting ships with limited maneuverability, a critical service in ensuring safe maneuvering.
3. Mooring Service:
   • Encompassing the systematic tying of ship ropes, marking berthing locations, and reporting these processes to the pilot during mooring and unmooring.
4. Shelter Service:
   • Attaching ships to berths or docks and anchoring in designated areas to shield them from adverse weather conditions.
5. Loading and Unloading:
   • A fundamental service involving the loading and unloading of cargo onto and from the ship.
6. Stowage:
   • Involving the orderly placement of general cargo and container loads within the ship’s hold or storage areas.
7. Lighterage:
   • The process of transferring cargo from one ship to another, benefiting both the cargo and the ship.
8. Opening and Closing Hatch Covers:
   • Crucial for container ships, this service includes placing and removing hatch covers during unloading and reloading, and closing hatches after loading.
9. Waste Collection from Ships:
   • In accordance with MARPOL 73/78, involves collecting waste generated by ships during normal activities.

Supportive Services:

1. Supply Services:
   • Providing ships with fuel, fresh water, provisions, and materials upon request from port management.
2. Maintenance and Repair Services:
   • Conducting necessary maintenance and repairs of ships and equipment within the port area as requested by the ship.
3. Security Services:
   • Encompassing measures and practices taken by port authorities to comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS), benefiting ships.

Enriching (Value-Adding) Services:

1. Office Service:
   • Facilitating ship stakeholders in tracking and managing ship operations.
2. Catering Service:
   • Providing food and beverage services to ship personnel and related individuals.
3. Energy Supply:
   • Supplying shore-to-ship power (cold ironing) to ships.
4. Communication:
   • Offering communication facilities to ships.
5. Parking:
   • Providing parking facilities for vehicles within the port.

These fundamental, supportive, and enriching services extend beyond mere loading and unloading points. They significantly enhance ship operations, fostering safer, faster, and more efficient maritime trade. Ports, through their comprehensive services, ensure the security of the sea, facilitate the flow of global trade, and optimize logistical processes.