WorkAxle is a workforce management platform built for port authorities, terminal operators, and maritime contractors: vessel-driven labor planning, gang scheduling, union dispatch and seniority rules, equipment-certification tracking, and clean payroll across terminals and shifts in one system. Vessel schedules drive labor demand, dispatch follows seniority and qualification rules, and hours flow clean into payroll.
Every vessel worked. Every gang dispatched by the rules.
Vessel schedules swing labor demand by the hour. Gangs need certified operators. Dispatch has to follow seniority and union rules. Terminals run around the clock. Your workforce system should run on all of it. WorkAxle does.
We know what running a terminal around vessel schedules actually looks like.
Three problems wearing one badge: demand, dispatch, and the union agreement.
A vessel ETA moved up. You need a full gang on the berth in two hours, certified operators included. The vessel schedule lives in one system. The labor pool lives in another. You build the gang by phone, in the dark, off a printout that was current yesterday. Every hour the berth sits short-staffed, the demurrage clock runs against you.
Dispatch has to follow seniority. Skip someone out of order and you have a grievance on your desk by Friday. You believe the order was right. Proving it means reconstructing who was called, in what sequence, and when, from memory and a few text messages.
Equipment certifications. A batch of operator certs expires this month. Put a lapsed crane operator or handler driver on the equipment and you have a safety exposure and a stopped operation, and you learn about it from a binder hours after the gang clocked in.
Demand drops between vessels, then spikes again on the next arrival. Headcount has to flex with the berth schedule. Today it's a fixed roster and a manual reshuffle every time the board changes, with someone working the phones to send people home or call them back.
End of shift. Payroll prep. Multiple terminals, shift differentials, guarantees, union premiums. Someone spends hours reconciling premiums against dispatch records by hand, hoping the export matches what the gangs actually worked.
When demand, dispatch, and union rules are one system.
The vessel ETA? The schedule reacted to the berth plan the moment it changed. The system proposed certified, available operators in seniority order, every one of them under their rest limits. You dispatched the gang before the vessel made the berth.
Seniority dispatch? Offers follow the seniority sequence, and every offer and every skip is logged automatically, timestamped and exportable. The order is provable in seconds. The call-log reconstruction goes away.
The expiring certs? The rule engine flagged them ahead of expiry. Operators nearing expiry are flagged before equipment posts until the renewal is logged. No one runs a crane on a lapsed certification, and the dispatch board knows it before the binder does.
Demand swings? Labor need is tied to the vessel and berth schedule, so headcount moves with each arrival. The shortfall surfaces while you can still cover it, before the gang is due on the berth.
Payroll prep? Differentials, guarantees, and union rules are codified and applied upstream. The export is already correct. There's nothing to reconcile and no spreadsheet to chase.
A tool that treats vessel demand, dispatch order, and the union agreement as three separate jobs can't run a terminal. WorkAxle treats them as one.
Your terminal problems. Solved at the system level.
| Your problem | How WorkAxle handles it |
|---|---|
| Vessel-driven labor demand | Labor need is tied to the vessel and berth schedule. When ETAs move, the system recalculates required gangs and headcount by shift, then proposes qualified, available workers under their hour limits. |
| Gang scheduling | Build gangs by role and certification for each berth and operation. The engine fills every position with a qualified worker and verifies the match before dispatch. |
| Union dispatch & seniority | Dispatch follows the seniority sequence defined in the agreement. Offers, skips, and reasons are logged automatically, so dispatch order is provable and grievance-ready. |
| Equipment-certification tracking | Crane, handler, and other equipment certifications are tracked with effective dates. Expiry triggers automatic reclassification and flags the assignment through the rule engine. Renewal alerts fire ahead of the expiry date. |
| Premiums, guarantees & overtime | Shift differentials, guarantees, and overtime thresholds are codified per agreement and applied automatically, so the numbers are right before they ever reach payroll. |
| Multi-terminal coordination | Workers dispatched across terminals accumulate hours centrally. Overtime, qualification, and rest rules are enforced across every assignment, terminal by terminal and in aggregate. |
| Time capture in the field | Clock-ins are captured on the devices a terminal actually runs on: mobile, tablet, kiosk, or fixed clock, with beacon proximity confirming the worker is physically on-site before the punch counts. |
| Clean payroll across terminals | Pre-classified, rule-applied hours export directly to payroll. Different terminals, differentials, and agreements resolve into one correct export. With the rules configured upstream, the reconciliation spreadsheet shrinks to an exception check. |
| Audit & grievance readiness | Every dispatch, certification status, premium applied, and seniority decision is logged and exportable. Audit and grievance documentation takes minutes to pull, where it used to take days to assemble. |
Four modules. One operational reality.
The vessel schedule writes the labor plan. Forecasting sizes the gangs, scheduling dispatches by seniority and certification, compliance enforces the agreements behind every assignment, and time capture classifies guarantees and differentials automatically. The terminal runs on one system from berth window to payroll.
Forecasting & Optimization
Vessel and berth schedules drive labor need. WorkAxle translates the operation plan into required gangs and headcount by shift and by terminal, so staffing follows the arrivals on the board.
Learn more →Scheduling & Rostering
Gang scheduling with seniority dispatch and layered union rules. The engine fills every position with a certified worker, follows the dispatch sequence, and logs offers, all verified before it publishes.
Learn more →Compliance & Rule Engine
Codify equipment certifications, seniority dispatch, guarantees, and union agreements once, and the engine enforces them everywhere. Expired certs are flagged. Decisions are logged and audit-ready.
Learn more →Time & Attendance
Clock-ins captured on mobile, kiosk, or fixed clock, with beacon proximity confirming the worker is on-site before the punch counts. Differentials and guarantees are classified automatically, so hours arrive at payroll already correct, per worker, per terminal, per agreement, with no manual math.
Learn more →Port operations, after WorkAxle.
Frequently asked questions about workforce management for port operations
What is the best workforce management software for port and terminal operations?
WorkAxle is built for vessel-driven terminal operations, labor demand tied to the berth schedule, gang scheduling, union dispatch and seniority rules, equipment-certification tracking, and clean payroll across terminals in one platform. Vessel schedules drive staffing, dispatch follows seniority and qualification rules, and hours export to payroll already correct.
How does WorkAxle handle union dispatch and seniority?
Dispatch follows the seniority sequence defined in your agreement. The system offers work in order, and every offer, skip, and reason is logged automatically, timestamped and exportable. Dispatch order is provable in seconds, which makes grievance defense a matter of minutes.
Can WorkAxle track equipment certifications for operators?
Yes. Crane, handler, and other equipment certifications are tracked with effective dates. When one nears expiry, the rule engine fires a renewal alert and, once expired, flags the operator for posts that require it. No one runs equipment on a lapsed certification.
How does WorkAxle connect vessel schedules to labor planning?
Labor demand is tied to the vessel and berth schedule. When ETAs move, the system recalculates required gangs and headcount by shift and proposes qualified, available workers in seniority order, under their rest and overtime limits, so labor moves with each arrival on the board.
See WorkAxle configured for terminal operations.
See how the compliance engine works.
Understand how seniority dispatch, certification tracking, and audit readiness connect inside a single rule engine.
Explore the full platform.
Forecasting, scheduling, time & attendance, and payroll export, see how every module connects for terminal operations.
Bring your hardest dispatch scenario.
We'll show you the platform with your terminals, your certification requirements, and your dispatch rules in mind. Bring the scenario your current system can't handle.