Smarter Maintenance, Less Downtime:
How Tanger Alliance uses Bromma SMS to shift from reactive to predictive spreader maintenance
Operational Snapshot
Customer: Tanger Alliance
Location: Port of Tanger Med, Morocco
Fleet monitored: ~13 STS spreaders and ~23 yard spreaders
SMS in use since: Approximately 3 years (started with pilot, expanded to full fleet including yard)
Positioning: Moving from reactive breakdown response to data-driven, predictive maintenance across the entire spreader fleet
THE CHALLENGE
Managing a mixed spreader fleet with limited visibility
For a terminal running a large mixed fleet of STS and yard spreaders, maintenance has traditionally been reactive: a spreader goes down, a technician is dispatched, the fault is found by elimination. Each unplanned breakdown consumes technician time, causes operational delay, and if the fault is serious enough, can take a spreader out of service entirely.
No early warning: Without real-time visibility, technicians had no way to know a spreader was degrading until it failed in operation.
Time-consuming fault-finding: Troubleshooting without data required checking all possible fault locations systematically, a slow and labour-intensive process.
Scheduling without knowing equipment condition: Operational planning had no way to account for spreader health, meaning a low-health unit could unknowingly be assigned to a critical operation.
Spreader data trapped in a standalone system: Spreader data existed in isolation, disconnected from the terminal’s wider asset management.
THE SOLUTION
Bromma SMS - from fleet overview to API integration
Tanger Alliance began with a pilot deployment of Bromma SMS on a subset of spreaders, then expanded to the full fleet including yard cranes. Today Bromma SMS is embedded into the daily maintenance rhythm of the terminal.
- At the start of every shift, the maintenance team reviews the fleet health screen on a dedicated SMS laptop, giving a consolidated view of every spreader’s status before operations begin.
- When a fault occurs, technicians check SMS before going to the spreader. The system identifies the exact location of the fault — down to the specific corner or side — and provides targeted resolution guidance, eliminating the need to manually check every potential source.
- The maintenance team monitors alarm frequency and patterns over time. Recurring minor alarms on a specific sensor signal degradation before failure, enabling proactive replacement during planned maintenance rather than emergency response.
- Spreader health status informs operational decisions. Knowing which spreaders are in good condition and which are marginal allows the team to avoid assigning a low-health spreader to an operation where a fault would cause significant disruption.
- Tanger Alliance has integrated the Bromma SMS API into their terminal’s centralised SCADA platform, feeding spreader data directly into a 360-degree equipment management view alongside data from other terminal assets.
The results
Measurable impact across maintenance, uptime, and integration
Three years into deployment, Bromma SMS has changed how the Tanger Alliance maintenance team operates – from the first minutes of each shift to how they plan weeks ahead.
Faster troubleshooting through targeted fault guidance
Rather than checking all four twistlocks or working through a spreader systematically, technicians arrive at the right location with specific resolution steps already in hand. The reduction in diagnostic time directly reduces mean time to repair (MTTR) and the duration of operational interruptions.
Predictive maintenance — catching failures before they happen
By tracking the frequency and pattern of recurring alarms, the team can identify when a sensor is approaching end of life and schedule replacement during planned downtime. This shifts maintenance from reactive to genuinely predictive, avoiding the unplanned breakdowns that cause the most operational disruption.
ROI achieved in approx. four weeks per year
For a fleet of ~13 STS and ~23 yard spreaders, the annual SMS subscription cost is recovered in roughly four weeks of avoided downtime. The remaining 48 weeks represent pure operational value – a return that compounds as the maintenance team’s use of the system deepens.
Health-aware operational scheduling
SMS health status is now an input to operational planning. Knowing a spreader is running in a degraded state allows the team to route it away from high-stakes operations or schedule maintenance before a fault becomes critical, preventing unexpected downtime rather than reacting to it.
Spreader data integrated into terminal-wide SCADA
Tanger Alliance has successfully used the Bromma SMS API to pull spreader data into their centralised asset management platform, combining it with data from other terminal equipment. The spreader fleet is no longer a data island – it is part of a unified operational picture.
Customer insight
“Before the SMS implementation, every spreader failure required a complete manual troubleshooting process, with technicians systematically checking multiple subsystems to identify the root cause. Today, the fault is accurately localized before intervention begins, allowing the maintenance team to mobilize with the right tools, spare parts, and repair strategy. This significantly reduces diagnostic time, minimizes equipment downtime, and improves maintenance efficiency.”
— Yassin Yaddouch, Technical Manager, Tanger Alliance
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