by Hanane Becha, TRAXENS & UN/CEFACT, Mikael Lind, RISE (Research institutes of Sweden), André Simha, MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company SA), and Francois Bottin, CMA CGM

Executive Summary

Ports are taking significant strides with digital transformation and starting to declare themselves as “smart”. Processes are digitalized, communities within the port are connected, and impressive gains in operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and customer satisfaction are emerging. 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 digitalize 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 utilization is now opening. 

Giant First Steps: Data-Powered Operational Gains

Ports and supply chains involve thousands of independent companies and individuals depending on each other’s policies, plans, and actions to effectively make the right business decisions and run operations. The smart port uses digital data streams to boost collaboration, align activities, and make decisions that improve vital processes across their operations. Some of the trends that we see now are:

• smart technologies informing about conditions and the utilization of physical infrastructures, such as roads, bridges, railroads, depots, terminals, warehouses. For example, cost-effective sensors are installed in or along, quay walls, roads, railways, and bridges transmitting real-time data about operating conditions. This also enables the port to proactively identify needed maintenance or repairs and thereby avoid unplanned downtime. 
• cargo handling that is digitally connected and helping ports to increase their handling capacity and productivity by ensuring that stacking cranes, straddle carriers, forklifts, and other equipment are correctly maintained and operate at peak efficiency. This also includes the automatic identification and detection of containers. 
• appointment systems for sea-borne and intermodal traffic are introduced to enable just-in-time arrivals, as well as trucking carriers reserving specific times for dropping off or picking up freight. 
• the introduction of digital tools for providing notifications on sea and land borne carrier movements within or closely associated to the port, via GPS-based traffic monitoring systems and traffic monitoring sensors along major port roads. 
• the use of digital technologies in safety and security to protect port employees, facilities, and assets. This covers entrance authorization, video surveillance and analytics, behavior analysis, anti-theft and anti-fraud, and biometric authentication solutions, and sensor-based systems that help vehicles and cargo-handling equipment to be properly aligned for safety, physical and cyber security
• the use of digital solutions to help identify, monitor, and aggregate data needed to support environmental and regulatory compliance initiatives, including the reduction of energy consumption through motion-sensitive lighting systems within terminals and on port roads, and air quality sensors enabling government inspectors to receive real-time sulphur dioxide emissions reports from vessel when they enter or leave a port.
• smart assets taking the digital age of shipping one step further beyond paperless processes by embracing the Internet of Things (IoT) to support enhanced decision-making by the various sectoral stakeholders. 

These developments provide examples of how a port and its actors become a significant data source for a multitude of parameters that support both an environmentally sustainable and value creating transport system. 

A port’s value creation needs to capitalize on data for optimal performance

A port is a self-organized ecosystem within the larger self-organized ecosystem of the global shipping industry. Both depend on distributed collaboration and coordination. A port is in a system of engagement for the coordination and collaboration among its various actors. This means that each actor’s operations are dependent on their capability to utilize the necessary blend of data from others within the port to optimize operations. Each actor in a port needs to contribute to and access up-to-date situational awareness to achieve a collective and mutually beneficial level of efficiency. A port is also a series of systems of production as its various actors each conduct routine operations for ships, passengers, and cargo handling. The efficiency of these system of production is critical to a port’s success.

Numerous initiatives are now building upon the emerging principles of digital collaboration and standardized data sharing. The PortCDM concept, the UN/CEFACT Smart Container project, and Port Call Optimization, are all examples. Their purpose is to improve the speed and predictability of operations by applying just-in-time thinking and door-to-door visibility of the trip execution. As natural parts in the transport chain, ports are also become natural data hubs for (internal and external) complex partner networks providing elements of data for supply chain visibility. Both systems of engagement and production generate data for a system of records, such as data on agreements made for services and reports on the productive fulfillment of these agreements, as well as the status of goods, infrastructure used, and resources. A system of record, combined with appropriate internal and external data, may be used in a system of inquiry, such as data analytics, to generate knowledge to enable more efficient use of a port’s capacity. 

Ports are well placed to emerge as powerful information exchange hubs deploying data captured from shipping lines, trucking, and logistics, and off-dock storage providers to increase the efficiency of the overall maritime transportation ecosystem. The information produced by a system of inquiry helps to position a port’s role in the transportation system in terms of the services it provides and how it refines these over time to meet changing needs. The emergence of the smart port concept exemplifies how a port needs to apply a systematic approach to framing its purpose to continually redefine roles to meet the changing needs of its customers and actors. In a port environment, this virtuous interaction among these different systems levels of engagement, production, records, inquiry, and framing are combined to create value.[1]

Following this line of thought, the following figure depicts the inter-relations resulting from the port being a consumer and producer of digital data streams that provide a foundation for analytics.[2] 

Figure 1. The concept of the Digitally Connected Smart Port

The enhanced value proposition of the Smart Port

The port has traditionally been a transshipment hub. Now there is the opportunity for the port to become an information hub, providing services to diverse existing and new clients. The port’s system will be a microservices data oriented layer invoking different services via standard APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and exposing a rich set of services to the whole ecosystem. Some examples are the provision of: 

• Smart container services (such as Traxens) providing all the stakeholders in the logistic chain with door-to-door visibility of the trip execution and cargo monitoring. The benefits of smart containers on the whole ecosystem is detailed in UNECE Smart container white paper and the UN/CEFACT Smart Container Business Requirements Specifications BRS
• real-time situational awareness to seaborne and land-based carrier operators reducing CO2 emissions and improving energy and operations efficiencies.
• additional insights to freight forwarders and other transport buyers to guide cargo over the best available transport modes and efficient routes.
• data on the progress to downstream ports allowing them to optimally plan their resource utilization. This is especially important in short-sea shipping enabling optimized capacity and achieving shorter, reliable transit times.

Smart ports must include secure, trusted environments by which carriers, shippers, port communities, customs, governance, financial, and other actors can securely access data related to their needs while abiding by global cybersecurity and data sovereignty laws. These environments can leverage data to create intelligent, automated applications and services that will support real-time decisions and asset control for the port as well as all members of the transportation ecosystem. Standards are key as well, since agreed-upon data flows with syntax and semantics will enable stakeholders to connect and invoke third-party services in their business process workflows. The creation of a standard data model of all the exchanged data within the port will enable development of standardized APIs. With standard APIs available to the industry, stakeholders will benefit from an explosion of new capabilities for connecting and integrating data across the intermodal supply chain ecosystem. The Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) is a proof that shipping companies are willing to collaborate and they need standards APIs to be able to collaborate. This will promote innovation (for example, the creation of new value-added services by merging relevant but previously unavailable sources of data).

The future is near 

The new technology foundation of smart ports, smart ships, digital rail, smart containers, smart contracts, and many other intelligent systems connected through a port’s digital information hub, will unlock huge gains in value. New business models and powerful analysis capabilities provide can enable transparency into the status of goods, infrastructure, and resources which is high on the agenda for the maritime transport sector. Instant visibility into shipping and cargo enables customers to make decisions faster and with more confidence. In this journey, smart ports, as evolving intelligent, highly sophisticated information hubs, are needed to revolutionize the global transport system. 

About the authors

Hanane Becha is actively driving smart assets standardization for key industries such as maritime and rail freight. She is currently the Innovation and Standards Senior Manager at TRAXENS and she is also the Leader of the UN/CEFACT Smart Container Project as well as the UN/CEFACT Cross Industry Supply Chain Track and Trace Project. Hanane has received a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. in Computer Sciences from the University of Ottawa and a B.Sc. from l’Université du Québec. More information about Traxens

Mikael Lind is Associate Professor and Senior strategic research advisor at RISE, has initiated and headed several open innovation initiatives related to ICT for sustainable transport of people and goods. Lind is also the co-founder of Maritime Informatics, has a part-time employment at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and serves as an expert for World Economic Forum, Europe’s Digital Transport Logistic Forum (DTLF), and UN/CEFACT. More information about RISE

Andre Simha is the Chief Digital & Information Officer at MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, the second largest container carrier in the world, whose team is responsible for implementing and developing the complex data flow between the company’s headquarters and its agencies around the globe, as well as steering the business towards the digital future of the shipping and logistics sector. Simha is also the chairman of the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA). More information about MSC

Francois Bottin is the Head of the Digital Factory, a global organization having the responsibility of leading the digital transformation of CMA CGM Group and digital projects delivery. CMA CGM is a French container transportation and shipping company headquartered in Marseilles, leading worldwide shipping group, using 200 shipping routes between 420 ports in 160 different countries. More information about CMA CGM

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[1] Watson, R. T. (2019). Capital, Systems and Objects: The Foundation and Future of Organizations. Athens, GA: eGreen Press. 

[2] Haraldson et al (2020) Decision support for port visits, forthcoming chapter in Lind M., Michaelides M., Ward R., Watson R. (Ed.) Maritime Informatics, Springer

Delivering data that matters, from periodic events to context-based alerts

By Hanane Becha, PhD Computer Sciences

Smart containers hold promise for revolutionizing supply chains. As leading carriers adopt smart container solutions, they gain valuable data that can be shared with shippers and other supply chain stakeholders. But generating and collecting data is not enough to make smart container solutions or supply chains “smart.” Stakeholders already manage huge amounts of data and struggle with multiple technologies that take time away from their core businesses.  A smart container solution must deliver data that matters, in a standard format for easy integration into different systems. It must enable unambiguous data interpretation and empower all involved stakeholders with actionable information. When trip plans, cargo information, and other information is shared with service providers, smart containers can keep them informed of “business-as-usual” conditions during the journey and alert them when conditions occur that require stakeholders to take action.   

Identifying Data that Matters to Deliver Meaningful Information

Smart container solution providers need basic data from their customers and an understanding of customers’ daily operational expectations and challenges. For example, receiving dozens of monitoring messages indicating normal reefer container performance and hours later finding a message stating the reefer has been unplugged is frustrating. If the shipper had initially communicated specific reefer temperature expectations and shipping context information, the service provider could have avoided or quickly remedied the situation.

The UN/CEFACT Smart Container project has developed standards for smart container-generated data. This data model defines the data elements that can be used to describe smart container events occurring during the smart container journey.

Setting the Parameters for Smart Container Solutions

Smart container solutions must be able to measure, clean, enrich, and report on physical parameters—such as temperature, humidity, or shock—that shippers or other supply chain stakeholders care about. This means solutions must be configured to capture the correct data, along with specific parameters that define “normal” and “out-of-bounds” conditions. Data collection parameters depend on the type of cargo being transported and the BCO’s specific data requirements for its business. Only then can the smart container solution deliver smart data.

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Parameterization Use Cases

Smart container data and analyzed information enable highly targeted container and cargo management across logistic networks. Ideally, shippers will communicate trip plans and acceptable ranges of measured physical parameters to the service provider or other stakeholder at the time of booking. The more data shared with the service provider, the more value the smart container can deliver to stakeholders.

For example, a carrier acting as the Transport Booking Owner in association with a smart container service provider might care about handling units (containers) and ensuring the correct consignment papers are present (Bill of Lading) with no need to know cargo details. Sellers and buyers may be interested primarily in cargo tracking numbers and release of funds milestones. Insurance agencies will be concerned about adverse cargo conditions and trip deviations. Data from the same containers can configured to deliver exactly what interactions between multiple stakeholders require.

Basic, Regular Movement

Even if no parameters are shared with a service provider, he can still capture and communicate basic information such as geolocation coordinates and data gathered by sensors in use. Based on this, he can provide customers with updates on their shipments and continuously update arrival and departure estimates.

Alerts vs. Events

Smart container solutions capture event data throughout the journey. They can generate alerts when events occur that fall outside of normal parameters. For example, if a container is sealed prior to shipping, the smart container solution would alert the stakeholder if a door is opened during the journey. If the smart container parameters include trip plan information from the shipper, the solution will alert the stakeholder if the journey deviates from the plan with precise location and timing data.

With cargo information shared by the shipper, service providers can configure the solution for parameters such as temperature, humidity, shock, vibration, or other physical factors for granular cargo monitoring. Information is delivered to the stakeholder by message, email, or to the stakeholder’s internal systems via API. Parameters will trigger alerts when certain condition exceed the configured thresholds such as:

• Internal container temperature exceeds a certain temperature or falls below an acceptable range

• Humidity levels exceed the threshold

• Sudden shock occurs to the container

These kinds of alerts enable stakeholders to proactively accelerate investigation, alert other stakeholders, assess potential damage, avoid demurrage, avoid extended waiting periods or customs delays, and mitigate any consequences.

Trip Plan

When an owner communicates the trip plan, parameters can be set to communicate events or alerts such as:

• Cargo stuffing completed

• Loading at port

• Actual executed transit times

• Empty gate-in at depot

• Alerts about deviations to the trip plan or presence in a high-risk region

• ETA calculations

Setting Zone Of Interest Attributes and Policies

Smart container solutions can add specific qualifiers to geolocation and geofencing data. The smart container can differentiate when it is at sea, within a specified range from port, at a private depot, or at final delivery. Based on this data, it knows which events are normal and which are disallowed, communicating information such as:

• Inland hauling trip tracking, which might indicate theft or discharge at the wrong port

• Shielding door opening at a border, enabling fast-lane customs clearance

• Timing for each waypoint along the trajectory of movement

• Entering a zone of interest (ZOI) for waypoints, specific ports, or other parameters

Means of Transportation

When the means of transportation are communicated for each trip segment, a smart container can be configured to analyze movement and acceleration. This data can be correlated with geolocation, ZOI, and time elements to identify events such as a missing container onboard or transfer from ship to truck.

Diving Deeper into Data

Members of the supply chain can use smart container data to optimize their own business processes. Data can be pulled into existing business information systems and analysis tools for generating analytics specific to different business units.

For example:

Container lifecycle management: Data collected over the course of the container’s lifespan provides visibility into usage and condition. If the container has experienced multiple severe shocks, been subject to extremes of temperature, or had reefer failures, this data can be used to focus maintenance activities. Maintenance teams can easily prioritize tasks and save time.

Improving operations: Historical anonymized data collected and aggregated from multiple smart containers across many routes over time yields visibility into opportunities for process improvement. For example, analyzing lead times between ports can enhance accuracy of future booking decisions. Identifying bottlenecks on given routes can improve route and contingency planning. Calculating average container stationary periods in specific terminals can reduce demurrage.

Smart container information benefits everyone involved in the journey. Some members of the supply chain need real-time snapshots and dynamic updates for up-to-the-minute monitoring. Others need per-booking data to better serve customers. Still others need time-stamped verification of events for legal and compliance reasons. Smart container solutions enable each shipment to deliver data that matters to the people who need it.