Tideworks Case Study
Crowley Maritime Corporation
Crowley Boosts Operational Efficiency and Agility with Tideworks
Crowley Maritime Corporation (Crowley), founded in 1892, is a leading provider of marine solutions, energy and logistics solutions to domestic and international markets. The corporation offers services such as liner container shipping, logistics management, contract towing and transportation, ship assist and escort, energy support, emergency response, vessel management, vessel construction and naval architecture, government services, petroleum and chemical transportation, distribution, and sales.
In 2014, Crowley had been experiencing increased market demands across its network. In order to respond, Brad Brown, the CIO of the organization, began to seek out a technology partner to invest in updated technology that would modernize terminal operations while ensuring the company could continue to uphold its exemplary customer service and maximize throughput. Crowley was looking for a technology partner that offered an optimal suite of terminal operating system (TOS) solutions to help upgrade its current processes, improve overall productivity and ultimately accommodate its increasing traffic volumes in an agile manner.
Seeking an Optimal Technology Partner
NOT relies on the connectivity of its technology partners to achieve these markers and consistently move significant cargo volumes through its terminal.
During its partner search, Crowley was seeking a TOS suite that could be integrated across multiple terminals to improve operational efficiency on the ground and advance productivity within the terminal. In addition, Crowley wanted a TOS suite that could be easily scaled to support its continued expansion worldwide.
Another factor that drove Crowley’s decision to modernize its TOS solution at the time was that the company had recommitted resources to the Puerto Rico market and as a result, was building its own ConRo vessels. These vessels contained containers and weather-tight decks to transport hundreds of cars and larger vehicles to and from Puerto Rico. Lastly, Crowley was also seeking solutions to help the company better utilize its land through moving to a grounded operation and to reduce the number of chassis in the company.
In addition to market changes in Puerto Rico, one of the primary drivers for Crowley’s decision to integrate a TOS solution, and eventually, Tideworks Technology was Crowley’s shift in its operating model at the Port Everglades in Florida from a wheeled to a grounded operation. This is a massive operational change, and the company knew they needed software and a strong consulting partner to make the transition successful.
During the selection process, led by Brown, Crowley evaluated several solutions on the market and narrowed down its search to three finalists. Crowley selected Tideworks in August 2015 for deployment at Crowley’s Port Everglades Terminal in Florida; Crowley later deployed a variety of Tideworks’ TOS solutions at its San Juan Terminal in Puerto Rico and Jacksonville Terminal in Florida.
Ultimately, the company selected Tideworks over the other two vendors due to Tideworks’ comprehensive terminal management and planning software solutions, as well as its customer and technical support teams. Crowley’s operational changes in Puerto Rico and Florida drove the initial need for TOS and Tideworks’ consulting and support solidified the decision.
Leveraging Tideworks’ SaaS TOS model
In a series of planned implementations at the three key Crowley terminals, the Port Everglades terminal in Florida was the first to go live with Tideworks’ solutions in September 2016. Crowley implemented Tideworks’ turn-key hosted solutions at the terminal. During the implementation, Crowley also deployed Tideworks’ Mainsail Vanguard and Spinnaker Planning Management System, to enable its terminal operators to better manage vessel, berth, yard and rail planning in one workspace; Tideworks’ Traffic Control solution, which allows Crowley control of its container handling equipment and electronic dispatching of work orders terminal-wide; and Tideworks’ Forecast, a web portal that helps Crowley’s terminals communicate faster and easier with partner trucking companies. Crowley also deployed Tideworks’ Gate Vision, an integrated gate system to accelerate gate operations and minimize truck processing time, and an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Porter, which is a managed EDI service.
Crowley deployed all these new technologies to streamline productivity and accommodate the terminal’s increasing volumes of container traffic. The first implementation was a significant step as Crowley is the largest marine terminal operator in Port Everglades and this terminal also acts as the company’s international hub overseeing multiple ports and growing volumes of vessels. With these complex elements in play, efficiency is essential.
Following the go-live at Port Everglades, Crowley’s San Juan Terminal went live in April 2017 with Tideworks’ hosted solutions in Puerto Rico. During the implementation, Crowley deployed Mainsail Vanguard, Spinnaker, Traffic Control and Gate Vision. Lastly, Tideworks completed its series of planned deployments when the third Crowley terminal went live in September 2017 at the company’s Jacksonville, Florida terminal. During this implementation, Crowley deployed Mainsail Vanguard, Spinnaker, Traffic Control, Gate Vision and EDI Porter.
Another key player at Crowley managing the deployment process of Tideworks’ solutions was Mike Porkert, director of terminal systems. Since implementation in 2016, Mike worked closely with Tideworks throughout the deployment process for all three terminals.
Furthermore, Tideworks provided software customization to align with Crowley’s unique operating practices at its terminals, in addition to 24/7 technical support. Tideworks also provided Disaster Recovery (DR) capabilities via a secondary data center located in a geographically disparate region. The TOS infrastructure is hosted and supported at Tideworks’ hardened data center.
Tideworks provided full support to the company and our employees. This support included project management, software configuration, integration services, and go-live assistance. Through the implementation processes at the three terminals, Tideworks’ team was involved in every aspect of operations. We really appreciated their unique vertically-integrated and customized approach to each terminal.
Mike Porkert
Director of Terminal Systems, CrowleyTideworks’ TOS solutions and customer support have played truly valuable roles in supporting our plans for growth and expansion and have enabled us to easily and successfully pivot and scale operations to handle increased vessel traffic and customer demands. We look forward to continuing to partner with Tideworks.
Mike Porkert
Director of Terminal Systems, CrowleyResults
Enhanced operational efficiency
Since the implementation of Tideworks’ TOS solutions was completed Crowley has seen remarkable improvements to operational efficiencies at each of the three terminals. At the Jacksonville terminal, for example, the company experienced a significant increase in gate volume and reduced the average total trucker turn time by 37 percent (nearly 14 minutes.) Additionally, by leveraging Tideworks’ TOS, the three terminals have gained increased efficiencies, including vessels being able to move more easily and quickly and enhanced crane operations.
In all Crowley terminals they can now maintain an average turn time of 25 to 30 minutes in grounded terminals, and average between 30 to 40 moves per hour per crane. In San Juan, Crowley had never been grounded nor had any lift on, lift off (lo-lo) operations until adding TOS.
“Prior to implementing Tideworks TOS’ solutions, many of the processes and operations at any of our three Crowley terminals were maintained informally through post-it notes, tradition or just sticking with what worked before. Tideworks’ technology helped create structure and organization to our processes, so increased operational efficiency is more achievable,” said Porkert.
Reduced costs
As a result of the solutions, Port Everglades was able to reduce its physical footprint substantially. The company was able to decrease the amount of land it leased due to its increased operational efficiency, which resulted in significant cost savings. Crowley reduced their footprint by approximately 20 acres.
Increased agility to easily scale to more demands
After San Juan was impacted by Hurricane Maria in 2017, the Jacksonville and San Juan Terminals received a large amount of container volume from FEMA to help address the significant impacts from the natural disaster. Tideworks TOS’ solutions enabled the Crowley Terminals to easily scale up and accommodate the additional volume of cargo in an orderly, streamlined manner.
“We are extremely grateful to Tideworks in enabling us to improve our agility and response time capabilities in order to quickly address a sudden influx of work,” said Mike Porkert. “If Tideworks’ TOS solutions were not implemented prior to Hurricane Maria, our Jacksonville and San Juan terminals and its workforce would not have been able to so easily pivot and accommodate a large inflow of additional work in such a streamlined manner.”
Reduced carbon footprint of company
Another benefit of implementing Tideworks’ TOS solutions was directly in line with Crowley’s corporate initiative to be better stewards to the environment. The solutions decreased truck wait times and assisted in reducing vessel carbon emissions. Crowley and Tideworks continue to work toward near and long-term strategic environmental objectives that will impact key terminal stakeholders and the ports’ local communities.
Improved employee safety and morale
Since the implementation, each terminal has experienced improved onsite safety for employees. The TOS solutions have contributed toward reducing the number of employee accidents onsite. The solutions also resulted in improved employee morale at the three terminals, as many Crowley employees felt the new technologies helped make their jobs easier and more efficient.
On the Horizon
As Crowley continues to expand and modernize terminal operations across its network to accommodate market demands, Tideworks looks forward to supporting the company’s growth with its innovative and robust solutions.
Leveraging its hosted services, Tideworks has partnered with Crowley to increase Crowley’s operational efficiencies and productivity going forward, making Crowley a formidable player in the marine, transportation and logistics market while helping to increase innovation in the global supply chain.
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