Business and IoT integration in Belgium's largest port: Antwerp Euroterminal goes digital

The implementation of a new Terminal Operating System (TOS) offered our customer the unique opportunity to rethink the entire IT landscape. Accelerating the digital transformation and reducing the workload became key target definitions. The aim was to meet the ever-changing internal and customer requirements, while offering high-quality services to end customers. The most important factors were maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction and a clear commitment to maximum security. The existing system landscape had grown with the company and was therefore very heterogeneous and poorly integrated. This had led to high maintenance and administration costs. Integration projects were only implemented when necessary and integration problems were solved by in-house developments. This led to silo thinking and resulted in increasingly fragmented and isolated knowledge. It became clear that networking the respective systems with suitable tools would create immediate added value and greater transparency. In addition to the "classic" challenges of integration projects, our customer emphasized that the topic of IoT integration was very important to them. Particular attention should be paid to finding the right speed and the right tools for the changeover. A software platform that would enable them to connect their B2B partners and their applications electronically and provide a solid basis for the planned IoT integration would therefore be far ahead of all competing offerings.

The customer decided to use the compacer edbic platform as a B2B/IoT gateway. The integration platform acts as a central "data hub" for our customer and the applications of its trading partners. It has since become the core of all operational and logistical flows. edbic was supplemented in a second step by edpem to introduce business process monitoring (BPM).

A whole series of integration projects were implemented in a very short space of time. Some of these were "traditional" B2B projects designed to enable the exchange of EDI, XML and proprietary data with the applications of trading partners and third parties by converting and transmitting the data transparently.

In addition, a large number of applications were connected via edbic. The system for shift planning and management of terminal workers was linked to the access control system for the port, enabling automated payroll and significantly relieving the HR department of day-to-day tasks. Integration with the customer's ERP environment, on the other hand, partially automated order acceptance, fulfillment and billing. New capabilities were also added, such as the generation of data records for structured test scenarios, automated access control based on shift planning and visitor appointments, and much more.

However, the port operator wanted to go one step further and tackle its first IoT project. For the pilot project, sensor data from the terminal's various weighing and measuring systems was published via edbic. A typical use case is measuring the verified gross mass (VGM) to comply with SOLAS requirements. The data obtained is now automatically fed into higher-level systems such as the TOS or stowage planning for loading ships, where it is available for further processing, analysis and visualization.

The network of surveillance cameras has been connected to a perimeter security system, which enables the early detection of intruders. The comparison of number recognition events (ANPR) with access control information and TOS transactions makes anomalies visible, improves traffic management and increases security - a key concern in port terminals. All of this is controlled by edbic.

This new level of digitalization makes everyday terminal logistics easier and significantly increases the efficiency of the port.