On the way to an intelligent maritime transport system
The final delivery of the project is scheduled for October 2025. (File photo)
Port companies in Eastern Quebec could benefit from a new project aimed at improving the efficiency of their activities in the next few years. Xpert Technology Solutions Inc., in partnership with the University of Quebec at Rimouski (UQAR), will design an intelligent maritime transportation system.
A grant of more than $620,000 was granted by Quebec to this computer consulting company based in Lévis to enable it to design this system based on predictive artificial intelligence models.
The announcement of this funding was made by the Deputy Premier and Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, as well as by the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry.
The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault. (File photo)
Our government wants to take advantage of the exceptional strategic geographic position of the St. Lawrence and make it a powerful vector for economic development, underlines Geneviève Guilbault in a press release. press.
This project aligns with Quebec's maritime vision, Avantage Saint-Laurent, which aims to create a smart economic corridor to increase the competitiveness of the province's maritime transport sector.
It should improve business planning, including management of personnel, equipment and space.
For her part, Loubna Benabbou, professor at the Departmental Unit of Management Sciences at the Lévis campus of UQAR, believes that many users will be able to benefit from the spinoffs of this project.
Port authorities will be able to benefit from the spinoffs of the project, among other things, because they are very interested in the idea of being able to obtain better precision as to the time of arrival of ships. Time has an impact on the entire supply chain, so administrations are the first users. Afterwards, it is the shipping companies, shipowners and terminal operators, she argues.
Loubna Benabbou, professor at the Departmental unit of management sciences at the Lévis campus of UQAR. (Archival photo)
Towards an intelligent maritime transport system
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Some UQAR students and staff will have the opportunity to develop predictive models, the algorithms that will calculate the forecasts.
The computer architecture and design of the system will be taken care of by the firm Xpert Technological Solutions Inc.
We have already worked on the development of predictive models elsewhere and we have had very good results. Now, the challenge is to take into account the particularity of the data we have in Quebec. Artificial intelligence depends on data, says Loubna Benabbou.
The total cost of this project is more than $1.2 million. Final delivery is scheduled for October 2025.
