On 22 June 2017 under the coordination of DAPhNE project partner RGO Communication Ltd from Croatia, 24 representatives of the project partners attended the study visit at the headquarters of the Port Authority in Antwerp. The study visit is part of one project activity focusing on developing a model for a Port IT Community System which can be applied to Danube Ports. At consortium level, it has been decided that during the DAPhNE project a pilot implementation of such a port IT Community System will be done in Austria (Enns Port), Slovakia (Bratislava) and Serbia (Novi Sad / Smederevo).

The study visit gave partners the possibility to gather specific information on port processes, involved stakeholders and related services within the port community of Antwerp. This information will be used as input for the creation of the functional and technical specification of a modular Port IT Community System for the Danube ports.

By implementing such a system, private partners (shipping agents, forwarders, dangerous goods operatives, etc.) as well as relevant authorities (traffic controllers, lock operators, dock & harbourmasters, shipping police and customs, etc.) can efficiently plan and order services to, from and within the port (e.g. tugging, pilotage services, berth management, mooring services).  Among the benefits of such a system are: access to transparent and uniform information, accurate real-time monitoring of ship movements, efficient coordination and planning of transport flows and operations, efficient vessel voyage reporting, acting as “single window” for reporting formalities, etc.