Harbour Master FAQ

Who uses Harbour Master?

Harbour Master is designed for and typically used by small to medium sized harbours. However it is also used in larger regional harbours.
The system is modular, so you can pick and choose which functionality you want. The system may be of benefit to anybody involved in vessel traffic handling. It has eyes 24/7 and can document events.

Is Harbour Master suited for fishing harbours?

Yes. Harbour Master provides automated visit reports and a live vessel chart.. In a busy and / or desentralized fishing harbour gives the overview you want. It catches all visitors (with an AIS) and enables you to collect all the due fees. The system usually makes finding the owner a freeze, so you know where to send the invoice. You can create a home fleet to separate the fishing vessels in your home harbour and visits. By reviewing tracks and playback you can locate the current and historica positions.

Is Harbour Master suited to cargo harbours?

Yes. Harbour Master collects information about expected vessels and simplifies arrival planning. You can be notified when the vessel approaches / enters the harbour. Arrival documents can easily be attached to arrivals. "Service call" reports can be automatically generated for port tenders servicing anchored vessels. The system tracks and reports all visits in your defined areas. You are provided with all information needed to invoice traffic based fees. Export this information to your invoicing system to automate the process.

How are tugs, pilots and other working vessels reported?

Typically it is not wanted to report working vessels, e.g. tugs and pilots, in the visit report. Such vessels can be defined as "home vessels". Home vessels are excluded from the reports but are displayed in the chart and you can review tracks and other things like other vessels.

For temporary work vessels, i.e. vessels working in the harbour area for a limited period, you can create filters only showing the reports for your own, billable areas. This elimiates a lot of reporting "noise".

You can also exclude vessels from the published, overview reports (lastest arrivals, latest departures, etc,). This prevents noise from passenger boats and other vessels visiting frequently and periodically.

Is Harbour Master an invoicing system?

No. Harbour Master provides visit reports which can be used as an input to the invoice process. HBM can also calculate fees and produce receipts, which can be printed and attached to invoices.

Can Harbour Master track my vessels world wide?

Harbour Master (HBM) tracks area activity, and it is not a global vessel tracking system. Vessels outside defined areas are not displayed, even if the AIS signals are received. However, HBM will display expected vessels and your fleet vessels wherever they are (within AIS coverage), making it easy to focus on the relevant vessels.
If you select or seach for a vessel it will of course be displayed in the chart as a part of the result.

Which languages does the Harbour Master UI support?

Harbour Master currently supports English, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian. We are aiming to add more languages.
The help section is in English.

How far back are historical data available?

Vessel positions, which are used for tracks and playback, are available 1 year back. If you need to access older data that can usually be provided, but we will charge for the job of making them available. In such cases they will only be available for a limited time (for the period you need them).

Vessel reports are available back to when the harbour was set up in Harbour Master.

If the system requires changes to maintain the normal operation, we will make those changes. To date no such changes have been made.

Is my harbour data private or can other harbours see them?

Yes, all reports and other harbour specific data are private. We do not share them and only the users you have defined can see them.
Vessels, positions and port locations are however shared between all harbours, except vessel master data which are also per harbour.

Can I integrate Harbour Master data in our "other" system?

Yes. Harbour Master provides export functionality which makes it possible to use your harbour data in your "other" systems.
For your web site the publication module makes it very easy to integrate live overview reports. These reports can be linked to myport.link, allowing your users to get more information about the vessel, including the current position.

Is it a vessel traffic service (VTS)?

Harbour Master is internet based, providing near-real-time data. Typical refresh time / delay is a minute or 2. If your internet connection goes down or any other link in the chain goes down, you have no access. The accuracy of the reported vessel positions depends on the quality of the received AIS signals. These are often relayed and relays can cause additional delays or have outages. Due to these things Harbour Master must not be relied upon for difficult navigational assistance. The system collects a lot of information from many sources and makes planning decisions easier.

If this is within your requirements, then possibly yes. Otherwise no.

Can Harbour Master be used for navigation?

No. See previous question.

Do I need a dedicated computer to run Harbour Master?

No, Harbour Master is web based. There is no installation and no plug-ins. It's ready to go and you can use it anywhere and on almost all devices..
However, if you are providing AIS signals you will need a dedicated computer running 24/7 to catch all AIS signals and route them to the Harbour Master server. See System Requirements for more.

Do you provide AIS signals?

Partially, but the deal is that you are responsible for providing the AIS signals. We provide the system and the support.
Harbour Master is integrated with the Norwegian Coastal Administration, which provides high quality AIS signals for Norway. For some other regions we provide public / shared signals. However, for most areas these are not recommended for live operations, since we cannot guarantee the reliability over time. There is no way for us to follow up on receivers that go offline. It is then better to set up your own AIS receiver and route the signals to the Harbour Master server. See System Requirements for more.

Do you provide AIS receivers?

No. AIS receivers can usually be purchased at the local "boat shop". Harbours usually already have a VHF antenna. See System Requirements for more.

I can see the vessel in marinetraffic, but not in HBM. Is there an error?

No, usually not. Marinetraffic.com and other tracking sites have their own network of AIS receivers. Harbour Master typically do not have access to the same signals and will thus not see the same thing. If you experience lacking coverage we recommend setting up a local AIS receiver and routing the signals to the Harbour Master server.

How difficult is it to integrate reports in our web site?

How does 1 line of code sound? ... Well possibly a little more, but not much. Please see Overview reports on web site for details.
You will need to integrate the ready made scripts into your web site code, and unless you are a coder, you must cover these expenses yourself.
We can help with that at a fee, but your "local guy" can probably also do it.

How much does it cost?

Harbour Master runs in some of the smallest and largest regional harbours. The price is made to fit all.
It is sold on a subscription basis. Either a quarterly or a yearly subscription. A setup fee may apply.
Contact sales at hbm.today for a free, online demo and a quote.

How much notice do I have to give to stop the subscription?

We appreciate that you give some notice, but it is not required. You decide whether you want to continue with the subscription at the end of each period. Each subscription period must be prepaid

What about support?

Contact us at any time 24/7. See Contact for how to contact us. Additionally, if you are logged in, you can find tools in the support section