Signing up

What does it cost?

Each deployable solution and add-on is charged a license fee, which includes one year free support & maintenance. After expiry of one year support & maintenance you will be offered yearly support & maintenance at a cost of 15% of the current license fee.

You can also lease the tool on yearly basis.

Any other costs?

If an on-site visit is required to deploy the solution, you will be charged for the travelling costs for the implementation team (typically 1-2 people). Typically an onsite visit is always required in order to deploy the first ARL Container Terminal Solution.

Do I have to pay for suppport & maintenance?

First year the support & maintenance is included in your license fee. From year two onwards, it is optional to pay support & maintenance.

Can I get suppport, if I haven't paid for the yearly support & maintenance fee?

Yes you can. That case you will be charged commercial rates for the time spend on support. If resolving the issue raised includes upgrading your current software to the latest version (part of maintenance update) you will be charged separately for this.

Add-ons General Questions

How do I understand which add-ons do I need?

Please fill the form on the Quote page, which  so we will be able to see your terminal specific and suggest addons which might be needed for you.

Is there any dependancy between add-ons?

No, add-ons are completely independant, so you can start with one, and may decide to add another one later on.

I have some specific requirements which seem to be not covered by your add-ons.

Please let us know by emal: info@arl-consulting.com.

Constraints Add-ons

Are there any time limits for the unavailable zone definition?

No, there are no limits. You can define precise start and finish time of the unavailability or you can just define a zone which is unavailable forever. All definitions are instantly available from the user interface, so there is no hard reconfiguration work required. 

How Berthing Planner behaves when unavailable zone defined?

In automated mode a vessel is never placed inside of unavailable zone. In manual mode operator is visually alerted of  the wrong vessel placement.

I have an angled berth, can I use unavailable zone of micro size to describe the angle?

Yes, this is not so obvious, but the terminals with angled berths can define short unavailable zones so the vessels will always be placed at right positions.

Do I need to adjust draught and tide settings daily?

No, the setup has done once and need adjustments only in case there are changes in draught at your berths. 

Are there any restrictions to the number of berths?

No, there are no limitations. You can define any number of berths.

What does it cost?

Each deployable solution is charged a license fee depending on the size of your terminal, which includes one year free support & maintenance - it starts at just USD 40K (including the ARL Berthing Planner). After expiry of one year support & maintenance you will be offered yearly support & maintenance at a cost of 15% of the current license fee. You can also lease this software!

Are there any restrictions to the number of berth types?

No, there are no limitations. You can define any number of berths and vessel types to match each other.

Functionality

What if ETA & ETD is changing?

That's the whole point of computer supported resource planning - ETA and ETD IS changing! just reflect the new ETA and ETD in the time-space dimension, and it will be obvious which other adjustments and opportunities you need to pursue with your berth plan.If the ETA/ETDs are maintained in a separate system, import an XML file containing fresh ETA/ETDs into the ARL Resource Demand Manager, and your resources will be distributed correctly to the appropriate time slots.

How can I share the berth plan and resources plan with my colleagues?

The ARL Berthing Planner can create a PDF document with the current berthing plan, which you can email or fax to your colleagues and partners.

Will it also work for container terminals only?

Yes it will. Many terminals use a large whiteboard (or excel) maintained matrix reflecting the berth and a time line in two dimensions; this is a professional tool version of the same visual overview.

How can you do this optimization for container terminals?

We use advanced optimization engine invented by ARL for solving hard optimization problems like this one. In order to produce a solution the tool needs to know precise yard geometry, driving rules, and consistent data feed from TOS having all container positions on the yard for coming and outgoing containers.

Can I make a number of scenarios?

Yes, the toll supports variations of berthing plans stored as an independent plans. You can create few versions and then select a better one later.

What type of resources are supported by the tool?

We support virtually any resources. These could be machines, boats, tugs, personell, etc. These resources can be quantative, like f.ex. 20 RTG, or can be defined by their IDs, like RTG1, RTG2, etc.