Discover how S-131 could help make trusted, machine-readable port infrastructure data more accessible and usable, supporting safer navigation, more efficient port calls and increasingly digital maritime operations.

Its immediate applications include supporting berth-to-berth navigation and voyage planning. But its significance could be broader. By establishing a common way to describe port infrastructure and services, S-131 has the potential to make authoritative port data more accessible and usable across the maritime ecosystem – supporting more coordinated port calls today while laying foundations for increasingly connected maritime operations in future.

Ports already hold large amounts of information about their infrastructure and services. The challenge is not necessarily whether that information exists, but how easily it can be discovered, exchanged and used.

S-131 provides a common structure for information relating to berths, pilotage, towage, bunkering, mooring and other port facilities.

This isn't simply about taking information that previously appeared on paper or a website and displaying the same information on a screen. Like other S-100 product specifications, S-131 uses structured, machine-readable data. This allows information to be consistently described and reliably exchanged between compatible systems, rather than depending solely on a person to find, read and interpret it.

For visiting vessels, that could make information about an unfamiliar port easier to incorporate into voyage and port-call planning. For shore-based teams, the same data could support a more consistent understanding of the destination. And for ports, it creates an opportunity for authoritative information about their infrastructure and services to become part of a more connected digital information environment.

Today, bringing that picture together can mean consulting several different sources. S-100 creates the potential for compatible systems to draw upon interoperable datasets within a common framework.

For experienced mariners, however, more digital information can prompt an understandable concern: does more data simply mean more information on screen and less reliance on traditional skills?

It shouldn't.
 

The same principle is important to S-100. Its value isn't in putting every available data point in front of the mariner, but in making trusted information available for compatible systems to combine and use.

Technology does not replace the judgement and experience of the mariner. The opportunity is to reduce the time spent finding and reconciling information from different sources, providing a clearer evidence base on which to apply those skills.

A port call depends on coordination between multiple participants. The vessel, port authority, terminal, pilots, tug operators and shore-based fleet teams may all need information to plan their activities around one another.

The maritime industry is already exploring how digital information exchange can improve that coordination. Port Collaborative Decision Making (PortCDM), for example, uses standardised information sharing to create greater situational awareness around port calls. The related S-211 Port Call Message standard supports structured communication between ships, ports and different port actors.

S-131 addresses a different part of the picture. Rather than communicating what is happening during the port call, it describes the infrastructure and services around which those activities take place.

One source might therefore help a system understand the characteristics and services of the berth a vessel is approaching, while another communicates when the vessel, pilot, tug or berth is expected to be ready.

Consider a vessel approaching ahead of schedule while its allocated berth is still occupied. Better connected information could help ship and shore-based teams make decisions earlier: adjusting speed rather than waiting at anchor, coordinating pilotage and tug requirements, or aligning arrival more closely with berth readiness.

This is part of the principle behind Just-in-Time arrival. More consistent information exchange could support better coordinated port calls, potentially reducing unnecessary waiting, fuel consumption and emissions while making more efficient use of port infrastructure.

As ports, vessels and shore-based operations become more connected, standardised port information could contribute to capabilities including:

• digital representations and digital twins of ports
• more automated berth and port-call planning
• integration with Port Community Systems
• Just-in-Time arrival optimisation
• increasingly sophisticated decision-support tools
• greater automation of ship-to-shore information exchange
• support for autonomous and remotely operated vessels

These applications will not depend on S-131 alone. They will require other data, standards and technologies. But they share a fundamental requirement: systems need reliable information about their operating environment in a form they can understand.

This direction is reflected in the work of the IHO. S-131 is specifically intended to facilitate berth-to-berth navigation and voyage planning, while the IHO's S-131 Marine Harbour Infrastructure Database project is exploring how standardised harbour information can improve information exchange between harbours, hydrographic offices and port users.

The capabilities may evolve, but the underlying requirement remains: trusted port information needs to be available in a form that emerging systems can use.

S-131 is still evolving alongside the wider S-100 ecosystem. But its potential illustrates why the transition to S-100 is about much more than replacing one generation of electronic chart with another.

For ports, preparing for that future starts with understanding their data. What information is held about infrastructure and services? Who owns it? How is it maintained? How quickly are changes reflected? And how could authoritative port information contribute to a standardised data environment that allows others to use it with confidence?

The port of the future will not simply be a destination represented on a navigational chart. It will increasingly be an active participant in a connected maritime information environment.

S-131 offers an important step towards that future: helping make authoritative port information more accessible usable by ships, shore-based teams and digital systems – supporting better-informed decisions, more coordinated port calls and the foundations for increasingly connected and automated operations.

S-100 is a new data framework that will underpin the next generation of navigation technologies. Find out how S-100 will impact your operations and how the UKHO is testing, trialling and supporting the industry through this transition.

As Head of UK Data Partnerships, Paul is responsible for developing and maintaining partnerships with UK data suppliers including ports and harbours. On behalf of the UK Hydrographic Office, Paul works to facilitate and improve data exchange for the benefit of both parties.