In order to increase safety and efficiency at sea the International Maritime Organization decided in 2000 that all sea going vessels were to implement Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). AIS is an automatic tracking system which broadcasts static and dynamic information about the vessel. Even though AIS was not initially designed for research purposes, large amounts of AIS data are available from which valuable insights can be gained. In this research an AIS Port processes tool is developed, which transforms (raw) AIS data into data containing information about the entry and exit times of certain port locations. With this tool and based on data analysis of multiple terminals, the inter arrival time distribution, the service time distribution and the berth occupancy can be obtained, these are key parameters for using Queuing Theory in terminal design. Following, these parameters and distributions can be compared to what current nautical infrastructure guidelines advise and expect. Insights gained from these AIS data analyses lead to innovative ideas and recommendations for current theoretical frameworks used in port planning.