Intelligent Automation of Intermodal Rail Planning, Som-Inn Port

By June 10, 2025July 1st, 2025Articles
G&W rail terminal

Project Lead

The project has been led by Tideworks Technology, a leading provider of terminal operating systems (TOS), in collaboration with Freightliner Ltd., the UK’s leading maritime intermodal logistics operator.

Project Description

Tideworks Technology has deployed an advanced and innovative automation solution to optimize booking and rail planning processes across Freightliner’s terminal network. Freightliner is the largest maritime intermodal logistics operator in the UK, offering container transport from all major ports to a national network of inland terminals. The project integrates Tideworks’ Intermodal Pro® (IPRO) system with Decisions, a low-code, rule-based automation platform designed to enhance decision-making through intelligent technologies.

This integration enables the digitalization and automation of traditionally manual processes, such as assigning bookings to virtual railcars or managing planning data, drastically reducing human intervention and the costs associated with errors. These operations are now managed automatically through Tideworks’ business rules engine and planning API, which allow for the application of terminal-specific rule sets, adapting to the unique requirements of each infrastructure in a tailored manner.

As a result, the system ensures faster response times, improved operational consistency, and greater accuracy in planning tasks, thereby optimizing the use of available resources.

Project Objectives

The main objective of the project is to improve the efficiency and reliability of intermodal rail planning processes.

Through the implementation of intelligent automation, the aim is to reduce human errors, accelerate booking and planning processes, shorten response times, and increase the adaptability of the system.

This innovative solution also allows Freightliner to scale its operations more efficiently and make better use of available resources, enabling the management of higher cargo volumes with fewer resources.

Read the article on Som-Inn Ports.

Mark Traynor

Chief Product & Technology Officer

Mark Traynor joined Tideworks in 2026 as Chief Product & Technology Officer, bringing more than two decades of hands-on experience in building and deploying terminal technology and automation systems. In this role Mark will lead the company’s product management and engineering organizations and is responsible for the product roadmap and the modernization of the Tideworks platform.

Before Tideworks, Mark was Chief Technology Officer at Lynxis, whose Nascent gate automation systems deployed in nearly 100 marine and rail terminals across North and South America. For Lynxis, Mark led a globally distributed 70+ person engineering team that built a modern, configuration-driven platform on a single codebase while introducing a visual workflow configuration designed to streamline customer implementations. He also introduced cutting-edge computer vision and agentic AI solutions as well as the re-engineering of the hardware to run on readily available commercial components rather than bespoke systems sourced from specialist manufacturers.

For the 13 years before that, Mark was an independent technology partner to major North American automated marine terminal projects, including Virginia International Terminals and Long Beach Container Terminal. These operators relied on him to help lead their most complex terminal operating system implementations driving efficiency and reliability through their gate, rail, yard and vessel operations.

Mark began his career at Navis in 2004, delivering terminal operating system implementations across North America and Europe.