What is Seaport Detection?
Seaport Detection allows the system to recognise when a booking includes a seaport location, either as a pickup or a drop-off point. When a booking address matches one of the predefined seaport postcodes, or a selected zone is marked as a seaport, the booking is automatically flagged as a seaport job.
This can trigger seaport-specific workflows such as:
- Display ferry details fields for pickup and/or drop-off
- Use seaport meeting points
- Apply optional meet & greet rules for seaport pickups
- Disable cash payment for seaport pickups, if configured
Seaport Detection is designed as a separate system from Airport Detection. It behaves similarly, but airport and seaport rules are configured independently.
How to Access Seaport Detection Settings
- Go to Settings
- Navigate to Seaport Detection
- Enter the postcodes that should be treated as seaport locations
How Seaport Detection Works
Seaport Detection can work in two ways:
- By postcode – if the pickup or drop-off postcode matches the seaport postcode list
- By zone – if the selected zone is marked as a seaport in the Zones section
This gives you flexibility to use simple postcode-based detection, zone-based detection, or both together.
How to Add Seaport Postcodes
- The system accepts postcodes only, not full addresses. For example, use CT17 9EQ or CT17, not a full address such as Dover Ferry Terminal, CT17 9EQ, UK.
- Enter seaport postcodes separated by commas or on separate lines.
- You can use:
- full postcodes for precise matching
- shorter postcode prefixes for broader matching
Example:
CT17 9EQ,
CT17,
PO2 8SP,
PO2
Related Ferry Fields
Once a booking is detected as a seaport journey, the system can display ferry-related fields in the booking form.
Pickup ferry details:
- Ferry name
- Ferry time
- Ferry terminal
Drop-off ferry details:
- Ferry name
- Ferry time
- Ferry terminal
These fields can be enabled or required independently in Settings > Web Booking Widget.
What Ferry Name, Time and Terminal Mean
- Ferry name – the ferry or service the passenger is arriving on or departing with
- Ferry time – the scheduled arrival or departure time
- Ferry terminal – the gate, terminal or exact boarding/disembarkation point within the port
In most cases, you do not need a separate “ferry port” field, because the port itself is already defined by the booking location.
Related Seaport Features
Seaport Detection can also work together with the following settings:
- Meeting points – you can create meeting points specifically for seaports
- Meet & greet – can be enabled globally and made compulsory for seaport pickups if required
- Cash payment restriction – cash payment can be disabled for seaport pickups
- Zones – zones can be marked as seaports for additional matching logic
Example Scenarios
Scenario 1: Seaport as Pickup
- Pickup: Dover Ferry Terminal
- Drop-off: 45 High Street
The system detects the pickup location as a seaport and can show pickup ferry details, seaport meeting point options, and any configured meet & greet or payment rules.
Scenario 2: Seaport as Drop-off
- Pickup: 12 City Road
- Drop-off: Portsmouth International Port
The system recognises the drop-off location as a seaport and can display the relevant drop-off ferry details fields automatically.
Scenario 3: Detection by Zone
- Pickup: A location inside a zone marked as seaport
- Drop-off: Standard city address
Even if there is no postcode match, the booking is still treated as a seaport pickup because the selected zone is configured as a seaport.
Best Practices
- Add all commonly used seaport postcodes
- Use exact postcodes where possible for more precise detection
- Use shorter postcode prefixes only where broader matching is needed
- Use seaport zones for ports that are harder to identify reliably by postcode alone
- Review your ferry details settings in the Web Booking Widget after enabling seaport detection
- Test both pickup and drop-off scenarios before going live