Customer story

Hastig and TomTom

Keeping traffic flowing at Europe's largest seaport.

Explore more

Traffic delays are a nuisance to everyone. But when unmanaged, they can prove to be extremely costly.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority — the organization that manages and develops Europe’s largest seaport — knows this well. As trucks move around to deliver goods to and from the port, slow-moving traffic is a common sight in the area.

But it’s not just trucks that are in abundance at the port. Several businesses — essentially customers of the Port authority — store their empty containers in depots, which, until recently, were often rendered inaccessible by the build-up of traffic. This delayed trucks' strict delivery schedules to subsequent destinations, prompting obvious complaints and requests for the Port authority to resolve the situation.

While on the lookout for a proactive solution to traffic delays, the organization landed on Hastig.

Tied by traffic data

Hastig has been a distributor of TomTom traffic data in Europe for over a decade. Data from TomTom Junction Analytics is visualized in Hastig’s MOVIMAPS Intersection Replay to give customers an overview of traffic flows in intersections of interest.

For an initial overview, they can analyze the situation using the TomTom Move Portal. When they’re sure of which intersections they’d like to monitor closely, these are fed into MOVIMAPS using the Junction Analytics API.

Identifying the root of the issue

Observing traffic at multiple junctions without being physically present at each of these points is a big ask. By using MOVIMAPS based on TomTom data, the Port of Rotterdam is able to do just that — and not only understand where traffic is slowing down, but also unearth the cause of these delays. Owing to Junction Analytics’ global coverage, they receive minute-to-minute traffic updates without having to install any expensive hardware, such as cameras and detectors.

Hastig also built a customized alert system for the Port authority, which informs it of potential traffic breakdowns in real time. This means that the Port authority addresses these issues quicker, without truck drivers or customers having to complain.

Detecting (and preventing) traffic slowdowns

By using Junction Analytics data through MOVIMAPS, the Port of Rotterdam now gets a snapshot of what's happening at junctions around them. This helps it detect problems while they're still developing and respond to them faster.

In some cases, it has even been able to address traffic delays at an early stage, making businesses with depots along the port much happier with the service they’re receiving.

Due to its high quality and ease of use, TomTom traffic data has become an integral tool for the Port of Rotterdam to gain insights into the surrounding traffic situation and manage it more efficiently.

“

You can’t go to every intersection, but with real-time and historical traffic data via TomTom Junction Analytics and MOVIMAPS, you can get an understanding of what’s happening at multiple intersections of importance to your business. It deserves a spot in the toolbox of every business that seeks to manage traffic and congestion.

Richard van de Werken, co-founder, Hastig