1 Sphere is an independent consultancy for ports and container terminals — simulation, automation, optimisation and terminal operating systems — that now builds its own software. The judgement comes from people who have run the operations; the tools are built to the same standard.
Both start from the same conviction: a terminal is only as good as the data feeding it. We build the tools we wished existed on our own engagements — then platform them for the industry.
Converts stowage and vessel-structure files between terminal, planning and class formats — and proves the conversion arrived intact. Every file passes a six-gate validation pipeline, every value carries its provenance, and each vessel can ship with a signed report a counterparty can independently re-verify.
A 3D terminal simulator where every machine — ships, quay cranes, straddle carriers, stacking cranes — is built at real published dimensions. Bring a yard three ways: run the built-in terminal end to end, import your own TOS export (verified against a live terminal's own data to 0.06 m), or type a port's name and have the yard read off aerial imagery — row pitch measured per block, and the pitch itself identifies the machine that works it.
Why it matters: the consultancy feeds the software, and the software sharpens the consultancy. Findings from live engagements become product features; the products give our advice a way to keep working after we leave.
Engagements are scoped to the problem — a week of independent review or a year of delivery, working alongside your own staff. Each service is tagged by where it lives in the terminal.
Test the terminal before it exists — or before you change it. Berth, yard and equipment scenarios modelled and measured, so decisions rest on evidence rather than instinct — increasingly powered by our own Terminal Studio.
The TOS is the terminal's instrument of record, planning and control — mission-critical, and expensive to get wrong. We run selection and implementation against the criteria that matter: stability, scalability, integration, and a vendor you can live with.
From STS crane automation to automated stacking cranes and remote operation. We help terminals decide what to automate, specify it honestly, and get it into production.
Tuning the terminal you already have: data enrichment and analysis first, then optimisation of the TOS and the operation it drives.
The gate sets the tone for the whole landside. OCR, appointments and turn-time design — so trucks keep moving and the yard is never surprised.
In port rail, every second matters. We review port–rail operations end to end and rank the improvements — from quick wins to progressive capacity upgrades.
No discovery workshops that never end, no army of juniors. A short path from your problem to work you can act on.
Call us and describe the problem in your own words. We'll tell you honestly whether it's something we can help with — and if it isn't, who can.
What we'd do, who would do it, how long it takes and what it costs — fixed before we start. You know the shape of the engagement before committing to it.
Short and focused, on site or remote, working alongside your own team rather than around them. You see progress as it happens, not in a final reveal.
Findings, numbers and recommendations in a form your team can carry forward without us. Where our software is involved, the tools keep working after we leave.
1 Sphere and its consultants are free of vested interests. Advice is tailored to your objective — never a vendor's.
Every consultant has held senior positions in major public or private organisations across the ports and maritime industries — from government-regulated to fully privatised settings.
An association of specialists, not an overhead-heavy firm. Contract with 1 Sphere directly or with individual members; we work individually or as a team, alongside your own staff.
Years in senior roles in competitive settings taught us to treat client security and confidentiality as habits, not policies — internally and externally.
TOS, terminal optimisation, automation, operations, simulation, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Leads the software programme.
Ship-to-shore cranes and automated stacking cranes — specification, operations and operator training.
Automated stacking cranes, straddle carriers, reach stackers and rail-terminal gantry cranes.
TOS Consultant — deep experience of a leading terminal operating system and an operational background. Join an association of specialists who choose their own engagements.
Get in touch to apply →Rail financial modelling, planning, revenue build and intermodal strategy — from nothing to an optimum steady state.
Whole-picture bulk rail operations review — identifying the factors that cap maximum tonnage.
1 Sphere supplies consultation services to Guidepoint clients globally.
Ongoing bespoke container-terminal advice to global companies through GLG.
1 Sphere's trusted supplier of dangerous-goods labels.
Whether it's a system to select, an operation to tune, or vessel data that can't be trusted — give us a call and tell us the problem. We'll come back with how we'd approach it.