Ports are taking significant strides with digital transformation and starting to declare themselves as “smart”. Processes are digitalised, communities within the port are connected, and impressive gains in operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and customer satisfaction are emerging, write Hanane Becha, Mikael Lind, André Simha and Francois Bottin.
Smart ports, as important nodes in the global supply chain, have the opportunity to establish themselves as logistics information exchange hubs serving their regional transport ecosystem. As ports digitalise their processes, they also establish a platform for providing benefits to other participants in the cargo, freight, and passenger ecosystems. In a society where bandwidth and connectivity are growing, more data will be generated along with new services and many new opportunities.
A landscape of new revenue-generating information services enabling carriers, shippers, and other players to significantly improve their operational predictability, efficiency, visibility, and capacity utilisation is now opening.
