A powerful drone speeds up along a waterway near Rotterdam and drops a bundle of spare parts onto a moving barge, just the latest development in the global phenomenon known as the ‘smart port’. According to the Rotterdam port authorities, the test delivery at the end of September 2020 went well and now they are continuing with more flights to fully assess the potential of the technology to make the port, the busiest in Europe, more efficient, quieter and safer wearing. and a less polluted environment.

Rotterdam is one of the world leaders in the adoption of digital technologies that are transforming these maritime hubs. “Drones can have a major impact on traffic and transport,” says Ingrid Römers, advisor to port authorities. “The next few years will be devoted to the gradual preparation of airspace and drone technology.”

Although this is only one aspect of the smart port, drones are already deployed to detect pollution levels from ships approaching the coastline, to inspect the contents of stacks of containers rather than dispatching workers on cranes, and like in Rotterdam, to save time by delivering packages instead of having to disembark the crew

Long term projects
Some ports are turning into centers of innovation. For example, Singapore, the second busiest in the world in terms of total shipping tonnage, hires the country’s brightest talent to run ‘hackathons’, where they are encouraged to come up with innovations for their project. in the long term, the Smart Port. Challenge. “The port is working with partners on maritime scale-up initiatives to identify and develop promising maritime technology companies to prepare them when the economy recovers,” Managing Director Quah Ley Hoon told the conference Oceans 2020 beginning of October 2020.

One of the biggest challenges that ports face is managing the sheer volume of inbound and outbound transport traffic.

Shanghai, the world’s largest container port, is following the same path, attracting top researchers from around the world with its own version of Silicon Valley. Similarly, Rotterdam has invited maritime-focused start-ups to set up there. An ongoing project is an energy hub that uses artificial intelligence to predict consumption and production patterns. The result should be more transparent and lower prices for users, predicts Nico van Dooren, director of new business. “This is a solution that will help achieve the goal of a carbon neutral port.”

Smooth the passage
Digital technology is at the heart of the smart port. Hamburg, the third busiest port in Europe, has installed sensors, camera systems and smart lights on the roads to monitor traffic, alert users when a bridge lifts and facilitate passage barges in service and other vessels during peak periods. A huge benefit of this is a reduction in the number of accidents.

One of the biggest challenges that ports face is dealing with the sheer volume of inbound and outbound transport traffic, but here digitalization and artificial intelligence come to the rescue. About 2,500 trucks circulate every day through Montreal, the capital of Quebec, entering and leaving the port, the second largest in Canada, and causing traffic jams and unwanted pollution in the city. One solution is an application, Trucking PORTal, which alerts drivers to the volume of traffic at port terminals in real time. And in a trend widely adopted in Europe, it can also provide the latest freight train timetables, which authorities see as replacing many carrier movements.

Digital communication platform
On the other side of the world, China has embarked on the most ambitious of all smart-port projects. Beijing aims to place all of the country’s ports, including Shanghai and their logistics operations, under the umbrella of a single, comprehensive digital communications platform.

It is a key part of the Maritime Silk Road, also known as the Belt and Road Initiative. It is a controversial but daring plan to link Chinese and European ports across the South China Sea, the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean into a vast ecosystem in which ports become hubs of a global supply chain. The whole project relies on digital platforms that harness the flow of data circulating around the world and convert it into information that ports can use. Thus, ports are becoming “smart infrastructures” instead of simple turntables for freight. Two ports – Piraeus in Greece and Djibouti in East Africa – are among the first to join the ecosystem.

The Maritime Silk Road has its detractors, however, with doubts about the heavy debt that recipient countries are forced to contract. For example, China seized the port of Djibouti because the country could not afford to repay its loans. Ultimately, the goal of the smart port is to make them productive yet enjoyable where people want to live, or at least live nearby. In short, they will be returned to citizens.