Port 4.0

State

In progress

Description

The Port of the Future will contribute to achieving sustainable development by managing the resources to be invested in the near future and employment, in ordet to get a competitive advantage. This is the Port of the Future, a new model of port management, which will go from being a Land Lord to being a port community development-oriented. This is the importance of having a strategic operational capacity to work in:

• Intelligence through ICT solutions: to improve the information exchange flow between the port and the port community.
• Interconnection: The Port of the Future must be connected with the use of different combined transportation modals and the integration of different technologies, to achieve better monitoring and control of cargo flows.
• Environment: by adopting green technologies to reduce the environmental impact of port operations and saving resources.

Sustainable development is the present and future for ports that are looking to lead the industry, based on three pillars: Operational excellence, Collaboration with supply chain partners, and the Highest Quality Safety, Health and Environmental practices.

Therefore, the project proposes a holistic approach that will lead to a smarter, greener, and more sustainable port ecosystem which will include the following characteristics:

• The introduction of the Internet of things (IoT) concept for port assets (infrastructure, vehicles, cargo, people);
• The socio-economic analysis of the port interface with its surroundings and the city port, as well as the rest of the logistics value chain
  
  

Expected results

• Port activities environmental and climate change impact reduction by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ships and trucks by adopting measures that could help improve logistics processes to make them more efficient. For example, reduced waiting times for ships in ports.
• Improving the logistics operations efficiency, related to freight transport by decreasing transit times, which will bring in a general increase of all logistics chains efficiency.
• Reduction of structural and operational costs by assessing the investment-need to maintain and update infrastructure.
• Joint development of an intelligent port-city approach that allows better socio-economic port integration with its area of influence on mobility, energy management and emissions, as well as maintaining the importance of ports role in regional development.
  
  

Contribution

In the context of the Port of Vigo, the project contributes to its consolidation as a:

• Green Port, by adopting green technologies to reduce environmental operations-impact and save resources. The project looks to improve energy management and efficiency to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.
• Innovative Port, by using ICT solutions to improve information flows between ports and port communities.
• Connected Port, by combining different transportation modals and integrating technologies for better monitoring and control cargo flows.

Current state

The project is on the developing stage, with European co-financing (Horizon 2020). For further information, you can visit the website: http://www.portforward-project.eu