NextPort
News & Events

1. What is NextPort, and what problem does it solve for ports and terminals?

Manuel: NextPort helps port and terminal operators bring fragmented operational information into one trusted, real-time view of activity. We work with existing systems to connect the data they rely on and make it easier to understand what is happening across their field of operations. This gives operators better support in making decisions and creates a stronger foundation for long-term planning.

2. How does NextPort work?

Manuel: NextPort is an operational digital twin which brings together data from existing systems, equipment, processes, and workflows to create a real-time digital representation of the operating environment. That information can then be viewed together in context, rather than as separate systems and dashboards. The goal is to give teams a more complete and trusted picture of what is happening, so they respond to bottlenecks and on-the-ground issues quickly and make better informed decisions.

The result is real-time operational visibility that helps teams identify bottlenecks, respond to operational issues, and make better-informed decisions.

3. How does NextPort support marine terminals?

Manuel: At the terminal level, the focus is on terminal operations optimization, helping teams coordinate vessel, yard, gate, equipment and workforce activity more effectively and with fewer conflicts.

4. Does NextPort replace a terminal operating system or other existing technology?

Manuel: No. NextPort is designed to modernize operations by connecting and adding value to the systems that a port or terminal already uses. Rather than requiring a large-scale replacement of systems, we create a common operational picture across those systems and provide additional visibility and decision support. This makes it possible to introduce new capabilities progressively without disrupting live operations.

5. How can NextPort help improve efficiency and throughput for terminals?

Manuel: Many operational inefficiencies begin when teams do not have a common understanding of what is happening across the terminal. By bringing vessel, yard, gate, equipment, and workflow information together, NextPort makes it possible for operators to easily identify conflicts or bottlenecks early and respond before they become system-wide issues. Over time, this support allows for better use of existing capacity and a more consistent performance for the terminal.

6. How does NextPort support decision making without replacing human judgment?

Manuel: The people running ports and terminals bring operational knowledge that technology cannot replace. NextPort gives those teams a better understanding of their operational landscape, helping them gain a clearer view of what’s happening so that they can make decisions with confidence. In the longer term, NextPort learns from operations and data generated about the gap between planned and actual operations can help identify opportunities for strategic interventions that can improve longer term efficiency. NextPort’s Digital Twin supports the decision making process, while operators remain in control of the decisions themselves.

7. What makes NextPort’s approach different?

Manuel: NextPort combines digital twin technology, operational data integration and practical knowledge of port and terminal operations. We focus on connecting fragmented information across systems and putting it into a form that people can easily understand and use in their day-to-day operations, as well as their longer-term planning. As part of Moffatt & Nichol, NextPort draws on more than 80 years of engineering expertise, which gives us a unique perspective on connecting digital and physical infrastructure in complex port and terminal environments.

‍

Is the data you collect telling you what you need to know? At the recent TOC Europe conference, Chema Real Valero presented on how a data backbone is key to operational intelligence.

‍

Terminals generate massive amounts of data every second. TOS events, crane telemetry, truck positioning, maintenance alerts, weather feeds, vessel AIS, gate transactions, equipment status and so on.

In this Big Data era, without careful management, control rooms are at risk of information overload: having access to vast amounts of data, without it giving them useful insights to improve operations. If that data is not structured in the right way for the terminal, there’s a risk it won’t give a true picture of on-the-ground operations.  

Many terminals still operate across fragmented systems that capture only partial views of the reality of each movement. Each of these systems records operational events using different formats, timestamps, and levels of detail, which makes it difficult to align them into a consistent view. Siloed data sources don’t present a full picture of operational performance. Instead, each platform tells its own version of the operation:

• The TOS says the move is completed

• Telemetry says the truck is waiting

• Maintenance reports a crane issue

• The control room sees congestion building up.

When these signals are not harmonized, reconstructing the full operational story becomes complex and time-consuming. This creates two risks for terminals: first, there is a huge, missed opportunity to use that data to gain an accurate picture of movements to improve operations. Second, teams don’t trust or see the value that digitalization can deliver in terms of heightened operational intelligence, because it’s not useful to them.

Industry has recently improved how it organizes data through modern layered architectures such as Medallion, where information is progressively cleaned, structured, and prepared for operational use. Data operational sources are now more structured, while the information delivered to control rooms benefits from stronger analytics and a more robust foundation.

However, this data doesn’t translate to meet the immediate needs of a live terminal, where there are synchronized operational flows happening in real time across machines, systems, people, and infrastructure. Well organized data is the first step, but then these data flows need to be connected in order to see and understand how operations unfold across the terminal in real time.

So, how can data be better managed and organized to be more useful in day-to-day operational management?
‍

The role of data backbone

Individual data sources need to be well organized, but they then need to be brought together to reconstruct a real-time business process. This is where the concept of a Data Backbone becomes critical.

At NextPort, we see the data backbone as the operational layer that connects isolated execution signals into a trusted picture of a movement, which creates a structured and standardized representation of how operational processes actually happen.

The role of the data backbone is to:

• Centralize operational data sources

• Harmonize execution signals

• Reconstruct the full container move across systems

• Contextualize events in real time

• Create the foundation for orchestration, continuous improvement, digital twins, and AI

• Align planning data with execution events to enable full traceability across the operation.

This data structure creates a live operational model of the terminal, which replicates how operations behave in real time. It also links planned activities with actual execution, creating a continuous feedback loop between expectation and reality.

This is important because when terminals can reconstruct operational reality end-to-end, they move beyond reactive operations.

They can:

• Identify bottlenecks faster

• Understand root causes of problems

• Compare planning vs execution

• Improve control room decision-making

• Optimize equipment coordination

• Reduce idle time and emissions

• Enable AI-driven operational support

• Continuously improve planning by learning.

By providing this structured and traceable view, the data backbone enables more adaptive and context-aware decision-making, where operations can adjust dynamically to real-time conditions such as congestion, delays, or equipment availability.

All of the technological potential for terminals in the form of advanced digital twins, AI-assisted operations, smart process orchestration, and predictive flow management depends on having consistent, harmonized, and traceable datasets. AI models, automation systems, and simulation engines rely on a true representation of operations to perform effectively.

More than a technical implementation, establishing a data backbone represents a strategic step towards enabling intelligent, data-driven terminal operations. Building a single operational source of reliable data — an on-the-ground operational truth — will be a defining factor in the success of future terminals.

‍

The technology ports and terminals adopt today will help define their future operational capacity, market opportunities and place in the global supply chain.

With increasing vessel sizes, higher cargo volumes and operational demands, ports and terminals are looking to new technology to help them adapt to future needs. Here are four ways we see technology shaping ports and terminals in 2026.

1. Data foundations at ports and terminals: We are deep into the big data era, with software and sensors which can be attached to almost anything. A robust strategy behind data collection and analysis is critical to harnessing the potential of data to aid operational simplicity and actionable support from systems. The right data at the right time is essential – whether that’s metocean data such as wind and wave conditions, or a crane cycle time.

2. Digital twin adoption and value: Technology is evolving at a faster rate than adoption, but digital twins are already becoming an established foundation for building a data infrastructure fit for future port and terminal operations. The technology offers immediate benefits, from proactive monitoring to flagging problems before they occur, and analyzing larger datasets underneath the digital twin to reveal trends and patterns that can enhance decision-making.

3. Smarter planning for optimized operations: We are increasingly seeing artificial intelligence and machine learning applications. Simulation technologies also allow users to model a port or terminal’s operations and infrastructure in full – being able to evaluate What-If scenarios. Additionally, agentic AI is coming to transform the way users plan operations, with planners utilizing execution track records to leverage feedback loops that can learn from past and predict future more accurately.

4. Digital driven compliance: The maritime regulatory frameworks are introducing strong digitalization requirements and more data is being generated at vessel, port and terminal fronts. The compliance on those, whether it is local navigation rules, local safety procedures or emissions regulations will be enabled by many of standardized data components and interfaces between existing like ECDIS or GIS and new systems like digital twins or AI based agents (maritime co-pilots).

In 2026, the ports and terminals that start exploring how technology can underpin their future will not only increase their present-day resilience, but put themselves in a position to thrive this year and beyond.

‍

Smart Digital Ports of the Future Europe 2025 returns to Amsterdam on 12–13 November for its 9th edition, a practitioner-led forum where advanced ports compare results, align on standards, and stress-test systems for scalability.
‍

The conference agenda is framed around four interlocking themes: digital decarbonization, resiliency and agility, PCS and digital tools, and digital transformation. Each theme incorporates the overarching mandate of converting shared architectures and metrics into standardized frameworks or operational blueprints. At the conference, NextPort, in collaboration with the Port Authority of Huelva, will showcase how they've collaborated to turn fragmented information silos into coordinated action across the port call lifecycle.  

The Port of Huelva project illustrates why interoperability matters. A FIWARE-aligned ecosystem and data-sharing culture allows an intelligence layer to seamlessly integrate without displacing incumbent systems, ensuring that insights land in the right workflow in time to change outcomes. Additionally, specific dashboards streamline the path from visibility to action. Some examples would be when arrival vessel draft exceeds the berth availability both on arrival or departure, DWT exceeds berth limits according to the local port compliance, vessel moves out of the port with a visit not properly finished or risk because two big vessels will cross in the navigation channel. Because unplanned disruptions are captured as first-class events, the digital twin learns from how port staff resolve those issues. This closes the loop between prediction and execution, thereby improving performance and making gains that translate directly into better resource utilization and lower operational disruptions.  

Underpinning this capability is a Port Info strategy, which is a coordinated method to consolidate infrastructure data (zones, bathymetry, approach constraints), metocean signals, local regulations, planned services, and operational records into a unified, machine-readable baseline. When grounded in international standards, such as IHO S-100 and recent alignments across IMO FAL, ISO, and Maritime Single Windows, Port Info turns static charts and scatters into interoperable datasets that are directly usable in operations, lowering the barrier to adoption across port facilities. This alignment enables control room operators to spend less time hunting for facts, and more time acting on validated intelligence.

Only with a precise understanding of the port call process based on data, can you be effective in optimizing coordination and planning at arrival and departure. This means being able to build the track-record of each port call based on data that is actually fragmented across multiple systems or simply not in place. That’s why, at NextPort, we put effort into generating data on pilotage, towage and bunkering, ensuring that the information for each vessel, including conditions, is recorded.  

Ángel Martínez Cavero, Product Adoption Manager, Ports, at NextPort

From this standpoint, we see the initial steps towards optimization as:

 (1) Transparency and visibility across stakeholders: this means the shipping line, ship agent and terminal can leverage the Port Authority’s ecosystem. For example, not only having at ETA at PBP, but also deviation on that ETA at specific points of time, distance or service unavailability.

 (2) Actionable awareness: these are issues where each stakeholder can take action, for example restrictions from sea-level and tides and the knock-on implications on draft conditions or berth suitability, or crossing vessels generating agitation hence mooring stress at specific berths.

 (3) Optimize by anticipating disruptions or by learning from past occurrences: at ports, many of the contingency situations are not properly instrumented or registered for learning purposes, for example how to incorporate a congestion or metocean condition into operations.

FIWARE as our reference architecture lets us federate data across stakeholders and allow partners such as NextPort to deliver event-driven insights as well as to add an operational intelligence layer on top of our infrastructure, enhancing situational awareness and enabling proactive port-call coordination.

Manuel Francisco Martínez Torres, Chief Technology Officer at Port Authority of Huelva

Industry consensus is moving towards this way of thinking. As highlighted in the 2025 PCO Plenary discussions, Port Call Optimization (PCO) has progressed from proof of concept to operational reality, but scaling requires shared standards and structured data across ship, shore, and sea. However, a practical maturity path is emerging that allows us to achieve this ambition. First, we must institute common Port Call events to establish shared situational awareness; second, enrich vessel particulars for stronger feasibility checks; and third, integrate real-time and forecasted metocean to improve predictability. The result is next-generation PCO, that fuses Port Info with Digital Twins and AI to deliver proactive recommendations and event-driven coordination across stakeholders.  

These elements map directly to SDP 2025 key topics. For digital decarbonization, the digital twins expose avoidable emissions embedded in waiting time and identify inefficient sequences. For resiliency and agility, short-horizon predictors surface conflict before it happens, such as weather windows, resource clashes, or agitation-driven mooring stress, so plans can pivot without cascading delays. Looking ahead, the goal is to shorten the interval between sensing, deciding, and execution, so that coordination becomes proactive by default. In Amsterdam, we will share insights from Huelva to make the approach more concrete and reusable. For ports pursuing SDP 2025’s themes, an event-centric, standards-aligned digital twin provides the most direct route from data to operational advantage, offering a portable intelligence layer that seamlessly integrates into your port community ecosystem to improve safety and predictability and measurably advance efficiency, sustainability, and resilience.  

At NextPort, our vision is to make ports data-driven by default. We fuse Port Infrastructure, metocean data, vessel state, and marine services into an operational twin, then deliver prescriptive insight to people and systems through governed event streams. Fully interoperable with PCS/TOS/PMS/GIS (incl. FIWARE-aligned interfaces), our platform augments, but does not replace, your stack, which works to improve safety, predictability and efficiency, while laying a measurable path to decarbonization and resilience.

‍

Digital twins are proving to be a key driver of effective operations, providing users not just with data, but with actionable insights that would previously have gone unseen.

Alongside this, Latin America’s port landscape is expanding quickly, with countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Panama among the highest for year-on-year container growth in 2024, with Brazil up 19.6%. We’ve also seen Chancay Port in Peru come into operation, and Brazil’s STS 10 and Chile’s Puerto Exterior de San Antonio on the horizon.

But progress in the region isn’t without obstacles. Drought at the Panama Canal in 2023 caused major rerouting of maritime traffic. Economic strain in Argentina and drought in the Paraná River—critical for inland container transport—resulted in a container traffic decline of -29.5%, exposing how quickly established trade patterns can shift.

Even as growth rebounds, the mix of rapid expansion and episodic disruption is redefining the needs of the industry landscape. Ports and terminals that can read conditions early and adapt in real-time will be best positioned to capture periods of growth, and best prepared for potential disruptions.

Digital twin technology’s potential for the industry is clear, but its adoption across the Americas has been uneven. Many operators remain cautious, questioning whether their existing digital infrastructure is robust enough to handle the vast quantities of data that digital twins depend on. Others point to the urgent need for stronger cybersecurity measures to protect these new, advanced systems from emerging threats. Along with these concerns, a common question among many in the industry is: how will digital twin technology shape the industry’s future operations?

These are the questions that will define the next stage of digital transformation for ports in the Americas, with real-world examples being central to this discussion. In San Antonio, Chile, NextPort’s deployment at Hanseatic Global Terminals Latin America demonstrates how digital twins are already helping operators improve visibility and decision-making across their operational landscape. NextPort integrates real-time data from across the terminal and generates alerts when disruptions occur, or even when they are likely to occur in the near future. This includes logistics at quay, yard and gate. With access to advanced disruption notification, as well as detailed data on the disruptions themselves, operators can troubleshoot these problems before they become major issues within the port or terminal. Additionally, NextPort records and learns from historical operational data, which provides the foundation for continuous improvement across the system. For our partners, this technology is revolutionizing the way that ports and terminals operate.  

At Hanseatic Global Terminals Latin America, we believe Artificial Intelligence begins with understanding operations. By turning data chaos into intelligent operations, we’re empowering our teams to make faster, smarter decisions grounded in clarity and control.”

— Iván Deosdad, Senior Vice President of Operations, Hanseatic Global Terminals Latin America.

The next step is to further refine the system to filter, prioritize, and summarize these alerts, ensuring that operators receive the most relevant insights first and can focus their attention where it matters most.

TOC Americas 2025 provides an opportunity to move this conversation forward with others in the industry. At its core there is a shared recognition that, if thoughtfully integrated, digital twins can serve as both a driver of efficiency and resilience by positioning ports and terminals for long term growth amidst an evolving landscape. From forecasting demand to managing disruptions, this technology has the power to reshape how terminals operate, but the challenge lies in how quickly industry can put this into practice.

‍

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.

‍