Texas Mooring Optimizes Operations with PilotTracker

Photo courtesy of Texas Mooring LLC.

About Texas Mooring LLC

Texas Mooring LLC was founded in 1985 to provide line handling personnel and equipment to facilitate the mooring and line shifting requirements of ships and sea-going barges in the port of Houston, Texas.

 As dispatchers, they schedule line handlers to meet vessels upon arrival or at the departure of a dock, facilitate the shifting of vessels at a dock or between docks, and monitor all stakeholder resources to ensure there are no unexpected changes. If there are, they contact the appropriate contacts to facilitate information flow and decision-making between the appropriate parties. 

Challenges 

To perform their daily operations, Texas Mooring heavily relied on two different systems – one to track a vessel’s movement and a secondary system to identify and validate the vessel’s operator. The process of logging into two different systems every time they had to research a vessel was very difficult and time-consuming.

Solution & Results

At the end of 2021, Texas Mooring was introduced to PilotTracker - a one-stop-shop for all viable information regarding a vessel coming into the port.

PilotTracker provides a dynamic map powered by AIS data to assist in tracking the vessel, as well as detailed information about each vessel, including the current operator. The platform also offers email notifications that are triggered when a pilot is on board for any specific movement. 

The dispatchers utilize PilotTracker 24/7 for their operational success as the information provided is a must-have to be efficient and successful in their sector. As line handling dispatchers, the two parts of the system they use the most are the schedule portion of PilotTracker and the underway tab. These allow them close to real-time visibility of ships for which they are responsible, with all job pertinent data available from a single source. They will continue to discover more benefits as they continue to utilize the system and as the Greater Houston Port Bureau, together with PortXchange, continues to implement changes based on industry feedback.

Both dispatchers and executives, who use the system regularly, have acknowledged that PilotTracker improves productivity and helps significantly reduce time by providing all relevant information in a single place.

“Change is always a perilous path to go down, especially if you utilize a system that you are used to, and it gets you by. However, the pace of the industry and maritime responsibilities continues to increase. To remain viable, any efficiencies that can be obtained to minimize the number of informational tools necessary to perform key work functions are well worth the effort to learn something new. We can attest to the value added to our organization by this system.

We would absolutely recommend the PilotTracker system to anyone who is interested, simply because all important information can be found on one single page, including a very accurate map,” says Texas Mooring dispatch team.