Foss Maritime has expanded services offered at its Portland terminal and dispatch center, which is now called the Foss Maritime Center. The new services include a 24-hour call center with fleet monitoring and weather service capabilities.
The Foss Maritime Center opened June 1 to support Foss’ international fleet of tugs and marine assets, as well as the maritime fleets of sister companies TOTE and Tropical Shipping.
The expansion, which is the result of a collaboration of Saltchuk companies served by the maritime center, included a renovation of Foss’ Portland offices located on the shores of the Columbia River, and the addition of staff trained to improve safety and situational awareness of global maritime fleets.
While vessel masters remain the final authority on all operational decisions, Maritime Center staff are specially trained to use multiple information sources to keep mariners and those who support them ahead of potential hazards, provide actionable information to support decision making, and be a first point of contact for mariners when they initiate shoreside contact.
Features of the Foss Maritime Center include:
- A 24/7 watchstander call center staffed by professional mariners. The call center will have the ability to immediately see a vessel’s location, it’s route and the prevailing weather conditions.
- Fleet monitoring to collect information through automated situational alerting and Watch Stander observation.
- Weather monitoring via enhanced weather tools for information, monitoring and rerouting support.
“The Foss Maritime Center allows us to standardize and enhance support for the Saltchuk family of companies,” Foss Maritime President & CEO Paul Stevens said. “We’re taking state of the art technology and pairing it with our own experienced and dedicated staff.”
