The Port of Montreal will now be able to benefit from a new predictive tool that optimises port logistics, letting the Port improve its operational planning and positively impact the transit times for containerised cargo in the supply chain, especially for rail freight.
This AI solution aims to optimise freight train planning based on variables such as ship arrivals, rail car deliveries, storage capacity, workforce availability and more to achieve optimal fluidity.
Daniel Dagenais, Vice-President, Operations at the Montreal Port Authority, stated: “This project is another critical milestone towards the ‘Smart Port’ vision we are implementing. It will benefit all stakeholders involved in the chain by reducing cargo delays and transit time while maximising throughput to our major logistics hub.”
The project goes beyond the visibility that many shippers are demanding — the ability to see where a container is in the supply chain — to helping determine when cargo will arrive at its destination, and offering a key tool in the effort facing many ports to use limited capacity more efficiently. That’s increasingly important as cargo volumes and vessel sizes grow — pushing up port congestion and stress on port resources — and in some cases, introducing greater uncertainty to the time needed to pick up and drop off a container.
The project is headed by the MPA in partnership with terminal operators Montreal Gateway Terminals Partnership and Termont Montreal Inc, as well as with EI Systems and Canscan. It was developed in collaboration with IVADO Labs, a startup specialising in the development of AI solutions with unique expertise in logistics.
This is the second project benefiting the MPA and funded by the Government of Canada through Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence AI (Scale AI), an investment and innovation cluster that accelerates the application of artificial intelligence for supply chains. It is noteworthy that last May, the Port of Montreal partnered in a project that makes it possible to use AI to accelerate the handling of goods deemed “critical” in the current COVID-19 pandemic.
