NextPort, a company based in the Campo de Gibraltar specialized in enabling AI in ports and terminals, has presented at the Smart Digital Ports of the Future (SDP) event held in Amsterdam, its technological proposal for the comprehensive management of port operations through digital twins and advanced data exploitation models. The company attended the meeting alongside the Port Authority of Huelva, which shared its experience as one of the first ports to incorporate the solution within the innovation program Ports 4.0.
The Spanish technology company participates in this program with pilot projects deployed in the ports of Huelva, Algeciras, and Santander, aimed at the gradual adoption of an operational digital twin that represents maritime and port activity in real time. Based on that, NextPort is now directing its offer to other interested European locations in evolving towards smart port models with data-supported management.
The presentation was given by Ángel Martínez Cavero, Product Adoption Manager at Ports of NextPort, and Manuel Francisco Martínez Torres, Technology Director of the Port Authority of Huelva. Both detailed the collaboration developed in recent years to build a digital ecosystem that integrates multiple information sources into a single layer of operational intelligence.
Digital strategy of the Port of Huelva
During its intervention, the Port of Huelva explained its roadmap for digital transformation, based on an open technological infrastructure and cooperation with specialized partners such as Telefónica, Indra, and Ayesa. One of the pillars of this strategy is the Port Community System (PCS) of the entity, designed on the European FIWARE standard, which acts as an information exchange platform between the port community.
In this context, the contribution of NextPort is aimed at optimizing maritime operations and incorporating market intelligence capabilities, with financial support from the Ports 4.0 program of Ports of the State. The project focuses on creating a digital twin that represents the port, its infrastructure, ships, and associated services, with the goal of facilitating operational decision-making.
“FIWARE, as our reference architecture, allows us to federate data among stakeholders and enables partners like NextPort to provide event-based information, as well as adding a layer of operational intelligence to our infrastructure, improving situational awareness and enabling proactive coordination of port calls,” said Manuel Francisco Martínez Torres during his intervention.
The collaboration between NextPort and the Port of Huelva is based on the concept of “port information strategy”: a coordinated approach to gather data that is traditionally distributed across independent systems, formats, and databases.
These resources include nautical charts, meteorological-oceanographic information, port area restrictions (drafts, lengths, or deadweight), local regulations, infrastructure details, anticipated demand for nautical services, and operation records. The dispersion of these elements makes it difficult for operators to have a complete view of the port situation and the surrounding maritime traffic.
The unification of this information in a common digital environment allows structuring the data, providing them with operational context, and offering them to the right agents at each moment. In this way, common barriers in port management are addressed, such as the lack of coherence between sources or the difficulty in accessing updated information.
Interoperability and operational use cases
The case of the Port of Huelva has been used in Amsterdam as an example of interoperability between systems. The technology ecosystem aligned with FIWARE allows NextPort's intelligence layer to integrate without replacing existing applications. Data remains in source systems, but is harmonized and made available to operational teams through dashboards and event flows.
These dashboards provide an integrated view of port activity and facilitate the identification of incidents that, under other circumstances, could remain hidden. Several operational scenarios that illustrate their usefulness were described during the presentation.
One of them refers to the arrival of a ship whose draft does not match the actual availability of the planned berths, both in the entry and exit maneuvers. The possibility of a ship exceeding the deadweight limitations set by local regulations for a specific dock was also mentioned, which requires reviewing the compatibility between the vessel’s characteristics and the assigned infrastructure.
Another example relates to the departure of a ship that leaves the port without having completed the procedures or records associated with its call, necessitating the activation of internal verification procedures. Furthermore, situations in which two large vessels meet in the navigation channel were addressed, generating risks that must be assessed in advance to ensure the safety of operations.
When circumstances of this type occur, the digital twin activates alerts directed at the operational managers. Each incident is recorded, and the system incorporates the decisions made by port personnel, allowing it to adjust management and prioritize alerts in subsequent similar situations.
Data-driven decisions and coordination among actors
“At NextPort, our vision is that ports base their decisions on data by default. We integrate port infrastructure, meteorological-oceanographic data, the status of ships, and maritime services into an operational digital twin, providing practical information to individuals and systems through controlled event flows. Fully interoperable with PCS/TOS/PMS/GIS, which helps improve efficiency while laying the groundwork for measurable decarbonization and resilience,” explained Ángel Martínez Cavero.
According to the company, data integration prevents operations teams from having to consult multiple sources to access necessary information. The goal is for different stakeholders—shipping companies, agents, terminals, and nautical services—to have the same database and work on consistent versions of operational reality.
Martínez Cavero structured the initial steps towards this improvement into three main lines. The first is transparency and visibility for all involved, allowing shipping company, agent, and terminal to utilize the digital ecosystem of the port authority. It is not only about knowing the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of a vessel but also any deviation from that forecast at key moments, the distance to the port, or the potential unavailability of services.
The second line is practical knowledge, meaning information that each actor can translate into concrete actions. This includes aspects like restrictions arising from sea level and tides, their impact on operational drafts, the suitability of docks, or the effects of disturbances caused by other vessels passing on the moorings.
The third line is optimization through anticipating disruptions or learning from previous experiences. Many contingency situations are not systematically recorded— for example, the incidence of congestion or a storm on operations—making it difficult to develop response models. The digital twin and analytics systems allow documenting these episodes and considering them in future decisions.
Integration of digital twin and artificial intelligence
The next step in NextPort's roadmap is to combine this unified data set with advanced digital tools, such as digital twins and artificial intelligence (AI), to create predictive models of port behavior.
First, the digital twin provides an interactive model of the port that integrates vessel calls, infrastructure, meteorological-oceanographic information, and operational status. Through this representation, users can monitor activity throughout the dock, locate incidents, and assess different operational scenarios.
AI, integrated into the digital twin itself or as a complementary system, provides two fundamental capabilities: learning from historical data and anticipating future scenarios. The analysis of time series on calls, weather, tides, operational decisions, and associated consequences helps identify recurring patterns and estimate how certain conditions will affect vessel arrivals and departures.
Finally, real-time data on wind, waves, tides, sea level, or dock availability feed predictive models that signal possible risks in advance. This type of tool becomes relevant in a context where meteorological and oceanographic phenomena exhibit increasing variability, and maritime traffic is on the rise, reducing the margin for improvisation in daily management.
