What Does “Port of Call” Means?

What is the Port Of Call?

A port of call is an intermediate stop for a ship on its scheduled journey for cargo operation or transporting supplies or fuel. It is a port where a ship stops except its home port.

Per the Shipping Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) regulation, a “port of call” can be defined as the port of a country where cargo or a passenger (cruise) ship halts to discharge or load cargo or to embark or disembark passengers.

While the term ports is generalised to include facilities feasible to people and cargo, the term port of call has a different interpretation.

Port of call is a technical term used in all official shipping documents. For cruise ships, the port of call is the premier stop from where passengers are taken on their cruise holidays.

Technically, cruise ports are tagged under the sub-division of sea harbours, which also include cargo harbours.

A port of call is a port attended within a voyage to load or unload the cargo or for bunkering or repairs carried out on the ship.

A ship-to-ship transfer (Cargo STS or Fuel bunker transfer etc.) carried within the port of call will be treated similarly to the operation carried at berth.

Related Read: 7 Important Points For Safe Lightering Operations On Ships

Port of call can include inland harbours and marine seaports catering to international vessels. Further sub-dividing them, there can even be fish harbours where fish are lugged and disseminated, cargo harbours where cargo is dispersed and a dry harbour where vessels’ maintenance and refurbishing is done.

A marine port, tagged as a port of call, refers to a port where a ship halts so that passengers can embark and disembark appropriately or load or unload goods in the case of cargo ships.

When it comes to cruise ships, ports of call are already pre-assigned in the itinerary, and as such, the ship is required to visit these ports.

Though it’s the same with cargo ships, the port of call might change per the requirements. For a cruise passenger, when the ship visits a different port of call as per the itinerary of the voyage, the passenger might need to pay a port access charge based on local taxes and fees.

That fee is usually charged to the cruise company; however, the company typically does not include these port fees in the cruise fares, and they, in turn, set it back to the passenger.

When a vessel enters a country, the first port it visits is considered the “First Port of Call”.

Related Read: Top 10 Largest Cruise Ships in 2019

Voyage and Port of Call

The Terms “Voyage” and “Port of Call” are interrelated. A ship voyage can be from one port to another, including the return trip, depending on the circumstances. A single journey may contain multiple “port of calls”.

For some ships, such as those engaged in naval duty, going from 1st port of call to the last port of call and then returning to the first port of call again is usually considered one voyage.

However, it may be different for cargo and passenger ships, and one voyage can be from the Port of Call “A” to the Port of Call “D”, in between covering Port “B&C”.

Voyage consideration entirely depends on the nature of the cargo, trade route, the shipping company’s policies, etc.

A ship undergoing an STS operation within the last port of call is considered the endpoint of that particular incoming voyage.

Similarly, once an STS operation is completed within the last port of call, after the departure, it is considered the starting point of the next voyage.

Ship officers and ship managers extensively use the data collected at each port of call and during each voyage to monitor parameters such as carbon dioxide emissions, the ship’s fuel consumption; total distance travelled, time spent at sea etc.

Related Read: What is Noon Report On Ships and How Is It Prepared?

Blank Sailing

For various reasons, when a ship operator cancels a port of call, the ship has to divert from the scheduled route, not attending the assigned port or a series of ports. This is called “Blank Sailing”.

If any cargoes are to be loaded from that cancelled port, the company will assign another vessel to attend to that cargo.

If the ship were to discharge any cargo at that port, the company might decide to unload it at the next port and arrange the transit from any other vessel depending upon the freight requirement.

There can be several reasons for blank sailing, such as:

• A reduction in the capacity of a particular route may call for blank sailing for stabilising freight rates.
• A ship is sold to another operator or goes to off-hire
• The vessel is involved in an accident or damage and needs urgent repair in a particular or nearest available port
• Union or other strikes in the port
• Vessel delayed due to bad weather, machinery trouble etc., leading to the cancellation of the specific port of call.
• Non-availability of a berth in the port due to closure, repair, traffic etc.

Related Read: Understanding the Principles of Passage Planning

Port of Call or Port Call Optimisation

Port of Call or Port call Optimisation is reducing the ship’s dwell time and improving the utilisation of port facilities.

By doing this, the vessel has a safe environmental impact and the safety and security management for the port, terminals, ship manager and service providers is enhanced.

Under the port call optimisation, important information is exchanged between the port and shipmaster in real-time, using satellite, internet connectivity, and electronic communication.

Here, the port is considered a combined organisation consisting of coastguards, customs authorities, port authorities, etc., and they communicate with each other. The ship maintains a data system for efficient upcoming ship-port operations.

Related Read: How can Efficient Cargo Handling be Helpful for the Marine Environment?

Different information is made available under Port Management Information Systems (PMIS), which is an integral part of port optimisation. E.g. of some critical information to be exchanged are –

• Name of the port
• Name of the terminal
• Name of the berth
• Availability of pilot at the pilot station
• New regulations introduced as per local and international law
• Bollard capacity
• Tug requirement and availability
• Distance between bollard
• Material used for fendering
• Maximum speed in the channel or port
• Maximum allowable draft
• Weather – Presence of Ice, fog, swell, surge etc.

By having this information exchange interface available for shipmasters and ship managers, it will provide the following benefits:

• Lower operating cost
• Lower cargo handling cost
• Safe and clean environment
• High standard of safety at the port
• Optimised port stay
• Reliable and optimised ship-port operation

Related Read: 6 Benefits of Information Exchange in the Maritime Industry

The interpretation of the term port of call also includes a person’s intended pit stop while undertaking a long recreational trip.

Ports form an indispensable component of the maritime domain. Over the years, the development of technology has brought about a lot of improvements in the port sector, thereby adding to its importance.

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About Author

Raunek Kantharia is a marine engineer turned maritime writer and entrepreneur. After a brief stint at the sea, he founded Marine Insight in 2010. Apart from managing Marine Insight, he also writes for a number of maritime magazines and websites.

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