AI-driven platform supports planning teams to deliver faster and more efficient workforce scheduling at the Port of Newport.

Ensemble, which provides workforce scheduling software for the Ports and Terminals sector, has secured a contract with Associated British Ports’ (ABP) Port of Newport to modernise its workforce planning across operations.

Athena, Ensemble’s intelligent scheduling platform, uses machine learning to generate optimal workforce schedules in seconds, ensuring that the right people with the right skills are deployed at the right time. The platform is designed specifically for the complexities of port operations, where multiple skill sets, variable demand, and safety-critical requirements need to be taken into account in the planning process.

By digitising and streamlining the scheduling process, Athena enables the Port of Newport’s planning team to focus more on strategic, data-driven decisions, while helping to create more balanced shifts for operatives.

Over the past nine months, Ensemble worked closely with the Port of Newport’s planning team to tailor Athena to their specific operational needs. Since 1 April 2025, the port has been using Athena daily to create schedules and monitor workforce deployment, marking a major step forward in the digital transformation of ABP’s Port of Newport operations.

Craig Stephen, Head of Operations at ABP’s Port of Newport, said: “Athena has given the team the ability to plan labour by lunchtime for the following day and beyond, which provides the management team with the time and insight needed to make better decisions.”

Katie Pearce, Operations Planning Manager at ABP’s Port of Newport, added: “The onboarding was smooth. By the time the Ensemble team started with us, setup took less than a day. By the end of that day, we were testing scheduling capabilities. They’ve been great to work with and brought a lot of expertise. We learned with them, and they were open to feedback, always quick to respond and develop the tool as we used it.”

Cato Davies, CEO of Ensemble, said: “At ABP’s Port of Newport, the deployment has been a great success thanks to the support of the ABP team. Ensemble prides itself on working closely with customers, getting into the detail of their processes to ensure Athena meets the unique challenges of port operations. The planning and wider team at Newport have been fantastic, and we look forward to continuing our work with them to make labour deployment even smoother.”

ABP and Ensemble worked together as part of the DfT's Freight Innovation Fund in 2024-2025 and the Port of Newport adopted the Athena platform after a successful trial period. Ensemble has been working closely with multiple UK port operators to develop Athena, tackling the unique challenges of workforce scheduling in complex port environments. With fluctuating vessel arrivals, multi-skilled teams, and varied shift patterns, planning can be a constant balancing act. Athena streamlines this process, delivering faster, more reliable schedules and strengthening collaboration between operations and planning teams.

For further information, please contact:

Emilio Binst, Strategy Lead at Ensemble
emilio@ensembleanalytics.co.uk or +44 (0)7460 768 445