Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) is setting up a state of the art Unified Command Control Centre (UCCC) as a centralised hub to coordinate the entire port ecosystem with next generation technologies including artificial intelligence (AI).
“The UCCC will be a future-ready infrastructure and will be a a single interface for customs, shipping lines, rail authorities, and other port-users to streamline coordination and reduce administrative overhead. It will be scalable, readily adaptable to additional sensors, advanced analytics modules, or new data platforms that VPA may adopt,’‘ Madhaiyaan Angamuthu, Chairperson, VPA said.
The VPA is working with National Institute For Smart Governance (NSIG) for the upcoming Centre which will be fully ready in the next six months.
The UCCC will help to reduce the operational downtime in the port through predictive insights, that can result in pre-empting of equipment failures and traffic bottlenecks in the port. There will also be enhanced compliance and safety by combining drone surveillance, multispectral imaging, and IoT sensors,’‘ the VPA Chair said.
KEY COMPONENTS
The key components of UCCC will be multispectral cameras. With AI/ML edge computing capabilities will they will monitor road-rail crossings, cargo yards, and terminals. Drone feeds will augment this coverage, particularly for larger or hard-to-reach areas.
For IoT sensor sensor data from berth equipment (mooring hooks, cranes, front-end loaders) will be fed into predictive maintenance models, reducing downtime and repair costs.
“The UCCC will interface with the POS application for shipping and cargo operations, National Logistics Portal (NLP) -Marine for stakeholder coordination, and ULIP portal for container tracking. This integrated view delivers immediate insights into port-wide performance metrics, according to the VPA Chair .
For enhanced safety, a specialised module within the UCCC will handle emergency alerts, providing step-by-step escalation procedures for events like road accidents, rail derailments , or environmental hazards. “Automatic notifications can be triggered to relevant departments and external agencies that will hasten response,’‘ he said.
VPA’s ongoing AI/ML-driven land management platform will feed into the UCCC for lease monitoring, rent collection tracking, and detection of unauthorised land usage.
VPA’s journey toward a smart, transparent, and future-ready port is illustrated through its seamless ERP integration, adoption of NLP-Marine, and real-time management platforms like the Electronic Measurement Book (eMB). The Unified Command Control Centre represents the next logical step for us,’‘ Angamuthu said.