Drawing out the essential business of ports

Abstract

Process modelling is used to reveal the structure of business processes in a port. The method of process modelling used is Ould's Riva method and the port it is applied to is Alexandria Port in Egypt. The main advantages of this method are that an overall picture of the business of a complex organisation such as a port can be drawn, and that essential elements of the business can be distinguished from secondary elements. An initial process architecture of the business of Alexandria Port is developed from the essential elements, the most important of which are ship and shipment. The architecture makes visible ways in which processes connect with and may affect one another. An architecture derived from essential elements can serve as the basis for a comparison of Alexandria Port with other ports, or for a redesign of some of the processes in order to streamline the business or to introduce new technological support.