Ministry of Transportation and Communications of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

10/27/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/27/2023 02:05

TIPC Completes Meteorological Monitoring Facilities Installation and Systems Integration at Group Ports

As part of ongoing efforts to keep Taiwan's commercial ports in line with international standards and to continue the smart-port transformation process, Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC) has since 2016 been working with MOTC's Institute of Transportation (IOT) to install maritime meteorological monitoring facilities at all international commercial ports as well as at Budai and Penghu Ports. As of mid-September 2023, 26 wind speed stations, 12 visibility sensors, 21 tide stations, 23 wave-current meters, and 18 in-port statical stability monitors (with more on the way). Installations at Anping, Budai, and Penghu Ports are expected to be completed in 2024, at which time data on a wide range of factors, including waves, tide, current, wind speed, visibility, and statical stability, will be used to construct TIPC's publicly available Maritime Meteorological Information System, accessible through https://wwtf.twport.com.tw/twport/ (see Image 1).

Key ports around the world have in recent years leveraged information and communication technologies (ICTs) to develop advanced smart port functionalities with the goal of creating a global vessel navigating infrastructure that could allow shipping vessels to enter and exit ports, berth, and offload cargoes largely on autopilot. Providing accurate, real-time weather observations and forecasting represents a critical step toward achieving this goal - especially in light of the increasingly large dimensions and carrying capacities of commercial ships. TIPC is well into the process of using these new facilities at each of its ports to generate data streams on current meteorological and sea conditions that are then processed and displayed on TIPC's public online platform (examples shown in Images 2 & 3). TIPC's partnership with IOT has increased the monitoring frequency of the new facilities and streamlined the display of data and key indicators to help port staff make accurate, data-driven decisions and further improve management efficiencies at ports under TIPC administration.

The Maritime Meteorological Information System developed by TIPC in partnership with IOT leverages ICTs to integrate all collected meteorological data into a geographical information system (GIS) and then transpose this information into a visual map interface. In addition to allowing users to pull up and review all meteorological variables, this interface will, for registered users, send automatic warning notifications via a LINE app LINE Bot when these variables exceed threshold values (as shown in Image 4). Working to provide more accessible and customized information to its stakeholders, TIPC has this year (2023) upgraded its various systems and improved / updated interfaces to give users quickly and easily the meteorological information necessary to make accurate, timely decisions to keep TIPC ports running efficiently and vessel navigation safe.