Smart Ports: A New World

SÃO PAULO – Maritime transportation has been used since antiquity, as it is known that Egyptians, Greeks, and Phoenicians were the first peoples to build commercial vessels and others for conquest wars. The Egyptians, for example, some 2,500 years ago, began making boats from papyrus reeds and later built wooden vessels, defying distances across the waters of the Nile River. Then came sailboats and steamships. Since then, maritime transportation has continued to evolve, especially after World War I (1914-1918), when many technological innovations occurred, making it the most important mode of modern society today, responsible for carrying over 80% of all cargo worldwide.

To meet these needs, ports have also had to undergo technological revolutions, expanding their infrastructures with extensive storage centers and modern equipment. Today, Rotterdam in the Netherlands is the port with the highest flow of goods in the world, with numbers exceeding the movement of other highly relevant ports such as Hamburg in Germany, New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego in the United States, Shanghai and Shenzhen in China, and Singapore, all considered smart ports with ongoing digitization projects.

Based on the experience of these ports, it is clear that the port of the future will be completely automated. These large ports will have independent systems but at the same time connected to other maritime complexes. This approaching new world has already been named Port 4.0, as it incorporates the concepts of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, which includes artificial intelligence, the internet of things (IoT), automation, big data, and blockchain technology, a shared and immutable ledger used to record transactions and track assets.

For major exporting and importing countries, through these digital technologies, it will be possible to integrate industrial segments with port terminals. In Brazil, some ports already have a certain level of automation and digital transformation, but their infrastructures are generally outdated and will require significant improvements to align with the 4.0 concept.

Obviously, these functions, which will depend on the participation of few specialized employees, will improve the performance and efficiency of the cargo shipping and receiving sector, making it easier to accommodate increasingly larger and fully loaded vessels. For this, it will also be necessary for these automated ports to be located in deep water regions that allow access for these new giants of the seas.

These technologies will undoubtedly minimize the time ships spend docked at ports due to improved cargo flow and faster customs clearance. Furthermore, in addition to ensuring efficiency and reliability, these technologies contribute to lower costs for both maritime operators and port authorities.

In this regard, it should be noted that the Ministry of Infrastructure has already launched the Future of the Port Sector program, coordinated by the National Secretariat for Ports and Aquatic Transport (SNPTA), which includes a series of initiatives to improve management and modernize port terminals, with measures to streamline procedures and invest in technology. Since ports are key components of the country’s development, it is expected that these initiatives will become a reality soon, as they will significantly contribute to economic growth and job creation.

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Liana Lourenço Martinelli, lawyer, postgraduate in Business Management and International Trade, is Manager of Institutional Relations at the Fiorde Group, composed of Fiorde International Logistics, FTA Transport and Warehouses, and Barter International Trade. Email: fiorde@fiorde.com.br. Website: fiorde.com.br.

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