INTEGRATING UNLOCODES WITH EXISTING PORT CODING SYSTEMS BENEFITS

INTEGRATING UN/LOCODES WITH EXISTING PORT CODING SYSTEMS BENEFITS AND PITFALLS Feargal Hogan, Technology Director Shipping Guides Limited 1

WHO ARE WE? • Shipping Guides Ltd are the leading port information publishers • Guide to Port Entry • findaport. com • UK based • I run the technology side of the business • Directly responsible for data schemas and structures 2

HOW WE CODE PORTS • • Important traits of a coding and identification system • Uniqueness - one code per ‘place’ • Comprehensive coverage - must encompass entire dataset • Ease of use - within data systems and without Result • a numeric/integer based identifier • each port is allocated its own number 3

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HOW WE USE LOCODES 1. We publish them in our paper and ebook publications 2. We allow them as input to search in digital products 3. We integrate our digital datasets with Locode-coded datasets 6

HOW DO WE USE LOCODES (1) • Printed Products • The Ships Atlas • Guide to Port Entry 7

HOW DO WE USE LOCODES (2) • Digital Products - as search term • If search is 5 characters long • AND Characters 1 and 2 are alpha • System will search for the entire Locode 8

HOW DO WE USE LOCODES (3) INTEGRATION • Integration with 3 rd party systems • Clients have port data in systems which use Locodes • Marrying both systems is not easy • Often these are poorly coded datasets 9

‘UNOFFICIAL’ LOCODES • Problems • More than or less than 5 characters • Incorrect Country identifiers • XY-123 • Ageing data - not reflecting newer changes • Allocating already-in-use data incorrectly to alternative locations 10

ADDITIONAL ENCODING We also encode port facilities available into the symbols we use on our maps 11

FACILITY ENCODING (1) • • Cargoes handled • Dry - containers, breakbulk, vehicles • Bulk - coal, ore, grain • Oil - crude, diesel, gasoline • Gas - LPG, LNG Bitwise binary • 0 -15 combinations - 4 bits 12

FACILITY ENCODING (2) • Drydock/repairs size • 4 pins largest ships • 3 pins large ships • 2 pins handysize ships • 1 pin small ships • 0 pins no drydock/repair facilities 13

FACILITY ENCODING (3) • Facility Size • 5 relative sizes • Differentiate between ports, terminals and other installations 14

ADDITIONAL ENCODING We also encode port facilities available into the symbols we use on our maps 15

FEARGAL HOGAN • Technology Director, Shipping Guides Ltd • 10 years before the mast • 25+ years in data and technology • Shipping Guides are the world’s leading port information providers 16

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING 17