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This summer, NextPort will prototype a new app to integrate biodiversity data into its digital twin solution. The app will help safeguard marine mammals such as dolphins and whales, by enabling maritime traffic in the Strait of Gibraltar to see the likely locations of their habitats.

The app will be developed as part of a new research and development project with the Port Authority of Algeciras Bay (APBA) aimed at safeguarding cetaceans – whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals – from maritime traffic. The project, called Guardianes del Mar (“Guardians of the Sea”), is entering its second phase in 2025.

Launched by APBA in 2023, Guardianes del Mar began with the trial of an underwater monitoring system to track cetaceans in the Strait of Gibraltar. This system enabled the creation of digital risk maps consisting of data gathered by habitat types, to help identify areas of conflict between maritime traffic and marine mammals.

As one of APBA’s next steps for this project, NextPort will develop a mobile application to support the initiative. Working in close collaboration with APBA and other local partners, the app will help people at sea to easily report cetacean sightings to enable broader and more accurate data collection on marine mammal movements and habitat data. Once gathered, this data will be analyzed and integrated into NextPort’s digital twin; bringing an intelligent, digital layer of protection to marine mammals throughout the Strait.

“Guardianes del Mar reflects how ports can leverage digital tools to protect marine life while improving their operations,” said Oscar Pernia, Chief Technology Officer at NextPort. “It’s a great example of the type of challenge NextPort was built to support, and our wider company purpose – with Moffatt & Nichol – to support our industry sustainability and environmental goals,” said  Miluše Tichavska, GreenPorts & Sustainability Director at Moffatt & Nichol.

The project is part of the wider APBA’s Green Strategy and it’s focused on expanding knowledge and awareness of cetacean presence in the Strait, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors, through which more than 100,000 vessels pass annually.

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How much more efficient could your teams be if they could see every move as it happens, and act on it immediately? For many terminal operators, this question is no longer theoretical. The answer lies in the next wave of operational control: cloud-based digital twins that let users see, understand, and manage performance at every level, helping control room users identify and remedy problems at the source in real-time.

When Terminals are running operations with tractor trailer (TT) fleets, the entire system hinges on one thing: flow. Performance depends on how fluidly tractor trailers are positioned at the ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, how quickly they’re able to move containers to the stack, and how efficiently they return to repeat the process. If tractor trailers experience delays at the stack or are not in position for the STS, productivity drops, moves per hour decline, and vessel departure is delayed. But what if you knew exactly where every TT was at all times? What if delays were visible to operators the moment they occurred, or before they even happened?

This kind of insight allows operators to react immediately. Operators can check in with a driver, identify the source of delay and dispatch a replacement if needed, resulting in fewer disruptions, smoother operations, and less uncertainty across the supply chain. Creating the environment for a fast, efficient supply chain is the key to increasing customer satisfaction and reducing costs.

Efficiency across the terminal is non-negotiable. From forecasting demand and planning vessel arrivals to stacking, storage, and throughput at the gate and rail, each stage must operate in sync. However, with disruptions being a daily reality, operators must find a way to remain agile when problems arise.

Staying agile requires a full ecosystem of technologies, such as Terminal Operating Systems (TOS), equipment control systems, GPS, OCR, gate systems, and more. But with these systems often operating in silos, the data they generate cannot be easily combined to present a full picture for the user. To make real-time decisions, operators need a complete unified operational view that can consolidate and contextualize this data and show where the problems are coming from.

A connected TT, for example, can tell us how long a move takes and where the trailer is located. Using this data, users can clearly see whether the next move is on time or will be delayed. With smart workflows and a digital twin, control room teams gain a clear picture of both the forest and the trees, tracking macro-level trends while diving into the smallest operational detail.

This connected view also enables operators to replay and review past operations. By combining data across systems, users can discover previously hidden inefficiencies such as planning strategies or execution parameters that impacted vessel turnaround time. What once required hours of analysis across separate tools is now visible in one clear interface.

When you empower control teams and continuous improvement teams to identify and act on root causes in real time, the whole process improves. Operational flow becomes smoother, decisions become smarter, shippers receive freight on time, and operators reduce both cost and emissions. And the potential goes even further; consider the impact of reducing unladen vehicle traffic, which often accounts for up to a third of transport costs and a significant portion of CO₂ emissions. In a terminal running 100+ TTs per vessel visit, the environmental and economic savings add up fast.

The holy grail of the supply chain has always been total transparency, knowing where your cargo, containers, and equipment are at any given moment. With digital twins, embedded sensors, advanced workflows, and increasingly intelligent platforms, that reality is now finally within reach.

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Digital-First, Decarbonization-Ready

Port terminals around the world are navigating an increasingly complex operating environment: evolving emissions regulations, rising energy costs, tighter margins, and growing pressure from customers and investors to demonstrate progress on sustainability. Yet many terminals still face a common roadblock: they lack the tools and insights needed to turn these challenges into action.

For most operators, decarbonization is not an abstract ambition — it’s an immediate business need. But the path forward can feel uncertain and cost prohibitive. With limited time, tight resources, and an evolving regulatory landscape, how can terminals cut emissions without disrupting performance or increasing OPEX?

At NextPort, we believe that progress starts with better visibility. More specifically, it starts with the ability to monitor and understand—in real time—how energy is consumed, and how emissions are produced across every layer of terminal operations. This is where terminal-level digital twins come in.

Digital twins can help bridge the gap between sustainability goals and operational decision-making. By combining real-time equipment telemetry, activity profiling, and energy modeling, terminals gain the ability to:

• Build credible emissions baselines aligned with upcoming compliance requirements

• Identify inefficiencies and energy hotspots

• Model the operational and financial impact of electrification or automation investments

• Demonstrate funding-readiness to public or multilateral financiers

The road to net zero starts with knowing where you stand. With digital twins, operators possess the clarity to act.

Cutting carbon without raising costs

In today’s port terminal landscape, the question is no longer if operators should act on decarbonization — but how they can do so without compromising efficiency or profitability. The good news is that meaningful emissions reduction doesn’t always require large capital outlays. For many terminals, the first step is using data more effectively.

With better visibility into how terminal equipment consumes energy and emits CO₂ across daily operations, operators can unlock measurable gains — both environmental and financial. But, achieving this requires moving beyond static reports or annual carbon footprints.

Targeting operational inefficiencies

Terminals already generate large volumes of data, yet most goes unused for sustainability or performance insights. By creating a digital twin of terminal operations — connecting equipment profiles, schedules, and telemetry — operators can begin to answer critical questions:

• Which activities are contributing most to energy consumption?

• Are peak emissions linked to certain shifts, equipment types, or inefficiencies?

• What short-term changes could reduce fuel use or idle time?

Through real-time energy and activity modeling, the platform surfaces actionable insights: from improving equipment dispatching and reducing idle times, to identifying low-cost behavior changes that lower carbon intensity immediately.

Understanding the ROI of visibility

Rather than relying on assumptions or outdated averages, digital twins enable precise and dynamic energy analysis. This means terminals can:

• Quantify emissions per move, per shift, or per equipment type

• Benchmark performance across different yards or operating conditions

• Simulate how changes — like electrification or automation — would impact both carbon and cost

By connecting emissions with operational performance, terminals can evaluate the cost-benefit of sustainability decisions. The platform becomes not just a compliance tool, but a source of business intelligence — helping to align environmental goals with cost management.

From reporting to actionable decisions

For years, sustainability efforts in the terminal space have centered around reporting — emissions audits, carbon footprints, and regulatory disclosures. While these are important, they are inherently retrospective. They show where you’ve been, but not how to change course.

To meet today’s operational and environmental demands, terminal operators need tools that support real-time decision-making — not just compliance.

Beyond Compliance: Operational Intelligence for Sustainability

Digital twins give operators the ability to move from lagging reports to leading insights. Instead of reporting emissions after the fact, the platform allows teams to see how today’s activities are contributing to carbon output — and where to intervene.

For example:

• Live equipment usage can highlight inefficient routing or excessive idle times

• Shift-level energy profiles can inform more balanced workload distribution

• Peak emission moments can be correlated with container flow or gate congestion

These insights allow terminals to act on what matters most, when it matters — improving both sustainability and service delivery without waiting for the next audit cycle.

Compliance that supports business

Both EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and FuelEU Maritime make it necessary for terminal operators to understand and report carbon impacts with increasing precision. Accurate emissions accounting will soon affect financial exposure, especially for terminals involved in ship loading, unloading, or energy supply.

A digital twin supports this by:

• Establishing a credible and verifiable baseline of terminal emissions

• Enabling continuous emissions tracking, not just annual reporting

• Supporting collaboration between terminals and shipping lines to account for onshore power, fuel switch impacts, and energy use at berth

For FuelEU, which pushes toward cleaner marine fuels and shore power, this data is equally crucial — helping terminals plan infrastructure upgrades with clarity.

Making ESG actionable

Terminals are being asked:

• What progress are you making on Scope 1 and 2 emissions?

• Are your assets aligned with science-based targets or net-zero pathways?

• How are sustainability metrics linked to your investment plans?

With a digital twin, terminals can answer these questions with precision — and use the same data to support grant applications, public-private partnerships, and green financing opportunities.

Informing smarter investments

One of the biggest barriers to decarbonization is uncertainty: Where should we invest first? What pays off? What are the operational trade-offs?

By simulating the impact of electrification, automation, or energy efficiency upgrades before implementation, terminals can:

• Prioritize high-impact actions

• Avoid stranded assets

• Justify funding proposals with data

• Build confidence across internal and external stakeholders

The result is not just compliance readiness — but strategic alignment between sustainability and business performance.

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About NextPort by Moffatt & Nichol

NextPort is a digital innovation unit launched by Moffatt & Nichol. Created to bridge the gap between infrastructure design and operational performance in the era of decarbonization. Leveraging our 75+ years as a global leader in maritime and transportation engineering, NextPort delivers digital services that help ports and terminals make smarter, faster, and more cost-effective decisions.

At NextPort, we’ve seen firsthand how data-driven planning and visibility unlock fast, cost-effective wins — from fully manual operations to semi-automated environments. Whether preparing for EU ETS, answering customer ESG requests, or simply trying to reduce fuel costs, the same principle applies: you can’t change what you can’t see.

NextPort’s digital twin enables that visibility — providing the foundation for smarter decisions. The road to net starts with action, guided by insight.

Together, NextPort and FlexTerm reflect Moffatt & Nichol’s commitment to smart, scalable, and sustainable port infrastructure — where engineering and data work side by side to deliver better outcomes for our clients and the communities they serve.

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Maritime Innovation Week 2024 focuses on sustainable innovation.

The announcement of Maritime Innovation Week 2024, with its emphasis on sustainable innovation, could not come at a better time for our industry. As global shipping faces increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact, this event will bring together thought leaders, innovators and industry stakeholders to explore ways to achieve a greener future for maritime logistics.

At NextPort®, we are 100 percent aligned with this vision. Our solution equips ports with the tools they need to optimize their operations and minimize resource use and therefore emissions. Being able to provide real-time, data-driven information helps ports and terminals reduce their carbon footprint without compromising the efficiency of their processes. With sustainability and innovation at the heart of everything we do, we are excited to see the conversations and solutions coming out of Maritime Innovation Week 2024 and look forward to driving positive change in the maritime sector.

Read more here.

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