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Driving greater maritime safety and efficiency

Driving greater maritime safety and efficiency at Port of Tyne

Port of Tyne advances its vision for a green, smart port with investment in a private 5G network

Learn how Port of Tyne— one of the UK’s major deep-sea ports—is transforming the maritime industry by driving new levels of safety, efficiency and environmental sustainabililty with a site-wide private 5G wireless network, the first such deployment in the UK.

Highlights

Port of Tyne is ushering in a new era for maritime ports with its vision of a green, smart port that is a model of safety, security and efficiency. By partnering with global telecommunications leader BT, the Port is deploying a site-wide private 5G wireless network built on the Ericsson Private 5G Solution. This network is enabling the Port of Tyne to build innovative use cases that leverage 5G-enabled CCTV, IoT sensors, AI, drones and other technologies to automate manual tasks, improve decision-making and reduce CO2 emissions. Leveraging its investment in private 5G-enabled use cases and the resources of its 2050 Maritime Innovation Hub, Port of Tyne aims to be a testbed of innovation for other maritime ports and industries to build their own business cases for 5G with the intent to further drive innovation and economic growth across the UK and the world.

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“I believe that 5G is going to play a crucial role in helping Port of Tyne achieve our goals. We can streamline our operations, improve safety and sustainability, and drive growth and innovation throughout the entire maritime industry and beyond.”

— Matthew Beeton, Chief Executive Officer, Port of Tyne

The challenge

Port of Tyne is continually changing and reshaping as a port to support changing customer needs and to advance its decarbonization strategy, creating challenges such as:

  • Reconfiguring the physical site multiple times per year
    Trenching through concrete to lay cable is costly and inflexible—not feasible for a dynamic port environment.
  • Connecting actively moving assets like vehicles
    Innovative use cases such as autonomous vehicles and automated container inspection are only possible with fast, reliable wireless connectivity.
  • Extending network connectivity to far reaches of the site
    Port of Tyne’s site extends across both sides of the River Tyne, which is difficult to connect using traditional network technologies.
Port of Tyne

The solution

Port of Tyne partnered with BT to design and build a private 5G wireless network with site-wide coverage to support new port innovations. The solution includes:

Ericsson Private 5G (dual 4G/5G core)

  • 4G 2600Mhz (15Mhz)
  • 5G 3700Mhz (100Mhz)
  • EP5G software

Ericsson Private 5G Radios

  • 4419
  • 4408

Spectrum

  • BT-provided n77 and b7
Port of Tyne
Ashley Nicholson, Marine Director, Port of Tyne

Ashley Nicholson, Marine Director, Port of Tyne

“We can use the 5G network to make improvements in safety, efficiency and the environment by passing real-time information between the shore and users on the river. Using assets like CCTV coupled with AI and the 5G infrastructure, we could automatically identify hazards or predict where there may be potential risk, flag those issues and dispatch our safety team to investigate. We can use the knowledge gained from incident analysis to implement additional preventive measures and drive a better safety culture across the site.”

— Ashley Nicholson, Marine Director, Port of Tyne

The result

By deploying a private 5G wireless network site-wide, Port of Tyne has a platform to build innovative use cases that will:

Improve safety and efficiency

With private 5G wireless connectivity, Port of Tyne will be able to use autonomous machines to perform tasks in dangerous environments, such as offloading containers from ships, and improve efficiency by optimizing resource utilization based on demand.

Drive an ambitious decarbonization strategy

By managing vehicles and equipment more efficiently with 5G-enabled automation and optimization, Port of Tyne can reduce carbon emissions to support its goal of being net zero by 2030.

Enable better decision making

Leveraging real-time data from across the site, Port of Tyne is able to pursue automation and gain real-time insights that enable data-driven decision making rather than relying just on instinct.

Strengthen site security

Smart surveillance using 5G-enabled CCTV coupled with AI, as well as automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) for smart gate operations, Port of Tyne can proactively detect risks and ensure only authorized vehicles gain access to the site.

Establish Port of Tyne as a testbed for new innovations

Through its 2050 Maritime Innovation Hub, Port of Tyne provides an environment for other ports and industries to innovate with 5G-enabled technologies and bring new value-driven solutions to market across the UK and the world.

Port of Tyne
“What makes 5G so exciting is it allows innovative use cases which help businesses do things quicker, safer, smarter, better. At Port of Tyne, it’s about taking people out of harm’s way … and bringing new innovations to market that improve efficiency.”

— John Goy, Smart Solutions Consultant, Surveillance and Smart Solutions, BT