West Gulf Maritime Association signs strategic partnership with PortVision
- Texas trade organization to offer web-based vessel reporting service
to members -
SAN DIEGO – July 26, 2007 – PortVision, a web-based information service providing historical and real-time information on commercial vessel activities, announced today that the West Gulf Maritime Association (WGMA, www.wgma.org ) has signed a strategic partnership with the company.
The Texas-based organization will actively promote PortVision's Web-based capability to provide unprecedented real-time visibility and historic reporting of waterway activities to its terminal owners, operators and agent members.
“The moment we were introduced to the system's easy-to-use interactive maps, animated playback and data analytics, we knew this was a platform that could dramatically increase efficiency, reduce cost and enhance safety and security for our members and industry stakeholders,” said Niels Aalund, vice president of maritime affairs issues for WGMA . “PortVision's real-time visibility and analysis capabilities are key features that can help solve a myriad of logistics and other business issues. We expect the system will be well received not only by our members but will soon become the system of choice for a broad cross section of industry stakeholders.”
WGMA was organized in early 1968 to succeed the former local maritime associations in Houston, Galveston and Brownsville, Texas and to embrace within the membership of one association the steamship owners, operators, agents along with stevedoring and/or terminal companies located in all Texas ports and the Port of Lake Charles, La. The association will promote and demonstrate the PortVision service as well as provide training to its members. In return, PortVision will offer WGMA members in good standing discount subscription fees and integrate WGMA member communications into the service.
“We view this partnership as a win-win scenario, and the start of a company initiative to develop similar agreements with other maritime member organizations throughout the U.S.,” said Jason Tieman, director of maritime solutions for PortVision. “WGMA can now offer exclusive pricing and support for PortVision to its members, helping them to schedule resources better, c ollaborate more effectively with stakeholders, and resolve invoice, contract or demurrage inquiries. In return, WGMA provides us a concentrated group of prospective users and the ability to receive collective feedback on how PortVision is being used and how we can continually improve its value to them. We're excited for the opportunity.”
PortVision's patent-pending technology converts AIS signals into usable information for mapping, alerting and reporting purposes while increasing its subscribers' maritime domain awareness. Users simply log on to the system and conduct easy, “Google-like” searches by vessel name, terminal name, call sign or IMO number to show the current status of any ship or terminal operation. PortVision also provides a quick way for subscribers to receive alerts of specific vessels and terminals via e-mail or cell phone text message for up-to-the-minute information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The system also allows users to view past events in real time, and provides reporting tools that allow subscribers to analyze port activity and identify the true root cause behind delays and other related inefficiencies.
About PortVision:
PortVision provides new levels of knowledge and transparency to maritime activities within ports and inland waterways. The tool's real-time visualization and historical information allow users to get up-to-date visibility of vessel activities and take immediate action based on instant alerting when events of their particular interest occur. Historical playback and reporting features offer expanded opportunities to identify best practices, to enhance Maritime Domain Awareness, and to better communicate with customers, partners and service providers. For more information, visit www.portvision.com .