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SeaCONEX: Simultaneously Visualizing Ocean Carrier Supply Chain Service Networks and Continuous Vessel Movement Data

Mason Leon , Rithika Lakshminarayanan , David Saffo , Sara Di Bartolomeo , Cody Dunne

Abstract

Supply chain disruption and the complexity of maritime and hinterland freight networks remain key issues around the world. SeaCONEX is not just a portmanteau of the humble container's origin, but a visualization tool that enables users to see the marine terminal connections for ocean carrier service rotations, investigate the historical trajectories of vessels assigned to ocean carrier services, and assess deviations from a shortest-path optimal route. In this paper, we present an approach to integrating ocean carrier service network information with continuous movement data for container and roll-on/roll-off cargo vessels with reproducibility in mind and utilizing new open-source industry data standards. We developed a multiple-view visualization that presents commercial maritime freight carrier service connections between marine terminals and links the spatial temporal movements of vessels assigned to each service over a 90 day period which can be filtered by carrier.

A copy of the IEEE Vis 2021 Short Paper submission along with supplemental material may be found at https://osf.io/k9nvc/

Visualization

SeaCONEX combines vessel movement data along with network connectivity data to present users with a dashboard for investigating carrier routes and possible anomalies or discrepancies between services and vessel operations.

The visualization below applies the concept to a case study crafted for the project's partner: The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe). Volpe is a United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Research Center for advanced logistics and transportation technical expertise based in Cambridge, MA. Volpe is a fee-for-service organization that supports a variety of national strategic transportation projects across the entire transportation spectrum. Specifically, we partnered with Volpe’s Situational Awareness and Logistics Division under the Infrastructure Systems and Technology Technical Center. A key client of the division is the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense (UKMOD).

In the case study, UKMOD needs to evaluate transport options for containerized and/or roll-on/roll-off cargo between the UK and the UK Overseas Territory of Bermuda. This must be done using a limited selection of "in-network" commerical ocean carrier partners and corresponding service offerings. The following table provides an overview of the six ocean carriers and services chosen for the case study.

Carrier Trade Service Vessel Deployment Num. Ports Num. Marine Terminals
Bermuda Container Lines (BCL) Bermuda Oleander (O) 1 ConRo vessel 2 2
Bermuda International Shipping Ltd. (BISL) Bermuda Bermuda Islander (BI) 1 LoLo vessel 2 2
Somers Isles Shipping Ltd. (SISL) Bermuda Somers Isles (SI) 1 LoLo vessel 2 2
Independent Container Line (ICL) Trans-Atlantic Trans-Atlantic (TAC1) 4 LoLo vessels 5 5
Atlantic Container Line (ACL) Trans-Atlantic Atlantic (A) 5 ConRo vessels 8 10
Hapag-Lloyd USA, LLC (HLUS) Trans-Atlantic US Flag Priority 1/Atlantic 3 (P1/AL3) 6 LoLo vessels 8 8

Interact with the visualization dashboard to investigate maritime connections between marine terminals, ocean carrier service rotations, and historical vessel movements for the Trans-Atlantic and US-Bermuda trade lanes. Click the information icon in each dashboard element for help.

SeaCONEX Dashboard
Ocean Carriers

Select a carrier or carriers to visualize the corresponding vessels and marine terminal networks.

The carrier filters pane encodes the logos for ocean carrier companies. On hover, a user is presented with additional information about the carrier company and its service. Brushing links to the other views to filter the corresponding marine terminals and vessels by the selected carrier(s).

Vessels

Select a vessel or vessels to visualize the trajectories.

The vessel table pane displays vessels in a tabular format with each column corresponding to a ship’s attribute. Brushing allows users to view data in the geographic map for the vessel(s) corresponding historic geographic movements over the 90 day period.

Each record in the vessel table represents an individual ship.
A vessel entity has:
"IMO" : a unique IMO (International Maritime Organization) number,
"Name" : the ship name,
"MMSI" : a MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity) number,
"Call Sign" : a radio call sign,
"Build Yr." : the year vessel was constructed,
"Gross Tonnage (GT)" : gross tonnage,
"Type" : vessel type (i.e. container, Container or ConRo),
"Flag" : flag country,
"Cargo Capacity (TEU)" : container carrying capacity in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) (only applicable for Container (LoLo) or ConRo vessels, 0 if N/A),
"Cargo Capacity (CEU)" : vehicle unit carrying capacity in vehicle equivalent units (CEU) (only applicable for RoRo or ConRo vessels, 0 if N/A),
"Stern Ramp Capacity (Tons)" : the capacity of the stern ramp (only applicable for RoRo or ConRo vessels, 0 if N/A),
"Carrier Operator" : operating carrier id,
"Carrier Service" : ocean carrier service id

Ocean Carrier Service Network Connectivity

Explore the marine terminal connectivity of publicly posted carrier master service schedules.

The node-link diagram pane represents a directed network graph with marine terminals (nodes) as circles and carrier service connections (edges) as lines with arrows. By default, a user may see terminals represented by a white color and all network connections, albeit in a faded out manner. Hovering over a marine terminal displays details such as the terminal’s identifying code, facility name, address, and the port it belongs to. The hover interaction also brings attention to the terminal of interest by changing the terminal’s color to deep red and taking advantage of the pop-out effect. The terminal encoding returns to default when the user interaction focus changes. A selection in the carrier filters pane changes color of the associated terminal nodes to a red outline with a pink fill and brings the connections into focus using color highlighting. When in view, the connections are encoded with a blue or orange color rep- resenting a respective East or West trade lane. This is important to highlight because a carrier may not visit a facility in both directions. The force-directed node-link diagram is advantageous for showing network data because it removes geographic distance and allows the user to focus clearly on specific nodes and edges connections.

Ocean Carrier Service Network Topography

Explore the shortest navigable maritime paths between marine terminals of publicly posted carrier master service schedules.
For a selected vessel, view the actual trajectory (historical path) over a set time period.

*Note: the shortest paths paths may not reflect the ideal route.

The geographic map pane displays marine terminals, an optimal maritime route (shortest distance) between terminals, and the trajectory (historical path) for vessels over a set time period. By default, a user may see terminals represented by a white circle. Hovering over a marine terminal displays details such as the terminal’s identifying code, facility name, address, and the port it belongs to. The hover interaction also brings attention to the terminal of interest by changing the terminal’s color to deep red and taking advantage of the pop-out effect. The terminal encoding returns to default when the user interaction focus changes. A selection in the carrier filters pane changes color of the associated terminal nodes to a red outline with a pink fill and brings optimal maritime routes of the carrier network into focus using color highlighting. The optimal maritime route is calculated using the SeaRoute model from the European Union’s statistical office. These elements are not visible by default and ap pear red for a carrier selection. Although these connections may not be accurate for navigation, they show the shortest distance between terminal pairings and provide a base comparison against actual vessel movements (trajectories). A vessel table selection links to this map view and displays the corresponding vessel(s) trajectory for the dataset time period. The trajectory for each vessel is encoded with a different color allowing users can visually compare the actual paths for vessels assigned to the same service as well as the optimal route.

Demo Video

See below for a quick demo of the above visualization.

Visualization explanation

Acknowledgments