Independent terminal technology consultant

Make terminal systems work as one operation.

Consulting for container terminals at the intersection of operations, TOS, gate automation, yard execution, OCR, positioning, IT/OT and hybrid infrastructure.

Discuss your project Explore the operating stack
TOS GOS YOS OCR RTLS / D-GPS IT / OT

Terminal technology with personality — serious on architecture, integration and delivery.

A confident man in a suit in front of a container terminal, with the slogan Make IT In Terminals Great Again.
A bold, tongue-in-cheek visual to reinforce the message: pragmatic IT leadership for terminal operations.

Brownfield or greenfield: architecture, integration and delivery focused on throughput, inventory accuracy, operational resilience and maintainability.

Operational technology, not slideware

From truck arrival to final container position.

I help terminal teams connect business processes to the systems and infrastructure that execute them — and remove the gaps between operations, vendors and IT.

01

Gate

Truck appointments, OCR portals, kiosks, access control, lane logic, weighbridges and exception handling.

  • Gate process design
  • GOS / TOS integration
  • OCR & device interfaces
02

Yard

Container inventory, job dispatching, RTLS, D-GPS / GNSS, handovers and CHE positioning.

  • Yard visibility & control
  • CHE / PLC event integration
  • Move validation & inventory accuracy
03

Quay & Rail

Crane OCR, vessel and rail flows, container identification, transaction capture and exception workflows.

  • STS / MHC OCR integration
  • Rail transaction workflows
  • Operational event correlation
04

Core & Infrastructure

TOS interfaces, API/message flows, identity, network, edge compute, resilience, DR and hybrid cloud.

  • IT/OT architecture
  • Integration & observability
  • HA / DR / cybersecurity

Systems & ecosystem

Vendor-aware. Architecture-led. Operations-first.

Independent technical consulting across the terminal application stack, including vendor solutions and the interfaces between them.

TOS Terminal Operating System

The operational system of record.

Process modelling, integration design, interface governance, work queues, inventory consistency, API/event flows, upgrades and operational readiness.

Navis N4TideworksCustom / legacy TOSEDI / APIs
GOS Gate Operating System

Automate and orchestrate the truck gate.

Gate lane sequencing, OCR transaction data, kiosks, barriers, traffic lights, access control and the business rules that connect the physical gate to the TOS.

Camco GOSOCR portalsKiosksVBS
YOS Yard Operating System

Turn yard movement into reliable execution data.

Yard process design, job execution, container location, equipment activity, move confirmation and exception management around the TOS planning layer.

Yard executionCHEJob optimisationInventory
OCR Automation & Recognition

Capture transactions where they physically happen.

Technical integration of gate, quay, yard and rail OCR with terminal workflows, event validation, image evidence, exception handling and downstream systems.

CERTUSCAMCOGate OCRCrane OCR
RTLS Position Detection

Know where equipment and containers actually are.

D-GPS / GNSS, RTLS, on-board controllers, vehicle identification and event correlation for automated move confirmation and accurate yard inventory.

IDENTECTerminal TrackerD-GPS / GNSSRFID
IT/OT Infrastructure

Keep critical terminal systems available.

Edge and datacenter architecture, cloud integration, network segmentation, identity, secure remote access, monitoring, backup and disaster recovery.

Hybrid cloudNetworkDRObservability

Product names are referenced to describe areas of experience and interoperability. Consulting remains independent of the vendors listed.

Consulting services

Useful before the tender, during delivery, and when production gets difficult.

A

Terminal technology architecture

Target architecture, system boundaries, data flows, network zones, edge/cloud placement, HA/DR and non-functional requirements.

Deliverable: architecture pack + decision log
B

TOS & automation integration

Interface mapping, event contracts, sequence diagrams, API/message integration, failure modes, retry/idempotency and reconciliation.

Deliverable: integration blueprint + test strategy
C

Vendor selection & technical assurance

Requirements, RFP technical criteria, solution reviews, architecture challenge, security assessment and implementation due diligence.

Deliverable: scored assessment + recommendations
D

Go-live, troubleshooting & recovery

Operational readiness, cutover support, incident diagnosis, dependency mapping, vendor coordination and pragmatic recovery planning.

Outcome: reduced operational risk
E

Multi-terminal standards & governance

Reference architectures, integration standards, identity patterns, observability, support models and reusable deployment baselines.

Outcome: consistent, supportable rollout

How I work

Translate operations into implementable technology.

Terminal projects often fail in the seams: a physical process is understood by operations, a product by the vendor, and the interfaces by IT — but nobody owns the complete transaction.

01

Start from the move

Map the real operational transaction before choosing the integration pattern.

02

Design for exceptions

Happy paths are easy. Recovery, reconciliation and degraded mode are part of the architecture.

03

Keep ownership explicit

Make boundaries between TOS, automation platforms, equipment vendors and infrastructure unambiguous.

04

Build for operations

Availability, observability, supportability and cutover matter as much as the target-state diagram.

Independent consultant · France / Remote / International

Consultant profile

Charles Borcke

Terminal Systems · Hybrid Cloud · IT/OT Architecture

Senior architecture and delivery experience across critical infrastructure, hybrid cloud and terminal technology environments.

I work directly with terminal operators, IT teams, operational stakeholders, integrators and product vendors to move from ambiguous requirements to systems that can actually be deployed and supported.

Architecture Technical leadership Integration Vendor management Incident resolution Cloud & infrastructure

Consulting rate

Senior terminal technology consulting

Architecture, integration, vendor coordination, troubleshooting and delivery support for terminal IT/OT environments.

€102.50/hour €820 / day Based on an 8-hour consulting day · excluding VAT where applicable

Have a terminal systems problem?

Let’s turn it into an architecture and an execution plan.

Available for architecture reviews, project support, vendor/integration workshops, troubleshooting and longer-running transformation programs.

Email Charles

Replace contact@charlesborcke.xyz in index.html with your professional email.