UAB-Online and Dropboard have deepened their technical integration to bring berth planning into the day-to-day operational workflow at terminals, sources indicated on 24 September 2026.
Many terminals still rely on spreadsheets, whiteboards or separate planning tools to manage berthing, the report said, a fragmentation that the two platforms aim to address by linking high-level berth allocation with routine port call coordination.
UAB-Online is described in the report as a cloud platform for digital collaboration in dry and liquid bulk logistics, while Dropboard is identified as the planning and scheduling platform developed by Systems Navigator. The vendors have moved beyond point-to-point data exchange to a deeper integration intended to surface berth information inside operational planning systems.
The stated aim of the collaboration is to make berth planning visible where planners and port operators do their daily work, reducing the need to reconcile separate documents and systems. The report does not set out technical specifications or rollout schedules, but frames the integration as responding to persistent fragmentation in terminal planning processes.
Integration in practice
Linking berth allocation with operational tools is intended to shorten the handoffs between strategic planners and operational teams. Bringing berth windows, expected arrival times and resource requirements into a shared planning environment should, in principle, reduce the number of manual updates between different teams and tools.
Sources noted that many terminals still manage berth planning with ad hoc means; the vendors are positioning their combined approach as a way to embed berth decisions in the operational workflow rather than leaving them in separate planning artefacts.
Persistent challenges
The report highlights the continued use of spreadsheets and physical boards at some terminals as a barrier to seamless coordination. Until berth information is standardised and routinely consumed by operational platforms, conflicts between allocation and execution are likely to persist.
The integration between UAB-Online and Dropboard is presented as a step to bridge that gap. The article does not provide independent verification of pilot projects, customer commitments or measurable outcomes from terminals using the connected systems.
The wider context for such technical links is an industry push towards more connected port operations, driven by the complexity of bulk trade and the pressures on berth utilisation. Bringing berth planning into the daily operational loop addresses a narrow but consequential piece of the wider port-coordination challenge.
Taken together, the announcement reported on 24 September 2026 signals vendor activity aimed at reducing manual reconciliation and improving visibility. The details of commercial agreements, deployment timelines and operational impact were not included in the published summary.
Terminals and shipping stakeholders considering similar integrations will need to assess data standards, handover processes and the governance of shared planning information before moving from pilot to routine use. The report from reports presents the collaboration as an example of how platform vendors are responding to long-standing operational fragmentation in berth planning.