Together with Fenna Miedema, my fellow data scientist from Port of Amsterdam, we are on a pilot trip gone.
We are working on a project to predict shipping traffic, especially focused on the arrival and departure times of large ocean-going vessels.
If we can predict this well, we can namely optimize our services and among other things reduce delays at the port. In order to gain this knowledge, we went on a pilot trip.
Without domain knowledge, no project
At 11 o’clock we boarded the pilot tender at IJmijden, to pilot some ships on the North Sea (bringing the pilot to the ship).
E n not a lead trip for dummiesbut a lead trip where we, along with pilot Tobias, boarded the Grande Pearl, a 200m long ocean-going vessel that carries vehicles (cars, excavators, etc.).
The “just getting on is in the middle of the North Sea from the pilot tender via a 2m long pilot ladder. Apple pie, 0 tension 😉 Fortunately the Grande Pearl was well filled otherwise we would have had to climb quite a few more meters.
Safe to port
Once everyone was safely on board, we were able to set sail for the port.
We had a journey of over 3 hours before we arrived at the berth.
Up close we were able to see how the pilot guided the ocean liner safely through the lock, across the North Sea Canal (it can be quite busy there with all kinds of shipping) and how he directed the tugs to safely dock at the berth.
We learned an awful lot about the work of a pilot and the nautical process in general.
The next step is a proof-of-concept of the prediction model that we and our domain experts believe has the greatest added value.
More later.
