As part of its vision to be the world’s Smartest Port and its commitment to GHG emissions reduction, the Port of Rotterdam has established a start-up called PortXchange for the global roll out of Pronto; a platform for optimizing port calls to reduce CO2 emissions globally in shipping. With Pronto, vessels can sail “just in time” to ports which reduces CO2 emissions as well as anchor time resulting in lower NOx emissions. In August 2019, PortXchange was launched as an independent organisation. Pronto is currently being tested in Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Algeciras and Houston and will be expanding to more ports in 2020. Maersk and Shell, Pronto’s launching customers, are testing the potential of Pronto to reduce emissions in shipping globally.
Pronto provides shipping companies, agents, terminals and other service providers with a shared platform that they can use to exchange information about their port calls based on a global standard. As soon as the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) is known, the vessel is assigned its own timeline in Pronto where all events during the port call are shown. The progress and status of the events are continuously updated on the dashboard. Users can monitor events and make adjustments where necessary. If they wish, users can receive notifications and warnings if there are status changes, delays or planning conflicts in real time. Furthermore, the Pronto interface allows the calculation of emissions and saving potential at port call level during and after arrival to the port.
Pronto encourages ports and shipping companies to collaborate to achieve Just in Time sailing and to significantly reduce CO2 and NOx emissions as a result. Inherent to the success of Pronto is the collaboration of all parties within the port such as agents, shipping lines, terminals and nautical service providers.