In today’s highly connected world, increasingly driven by the rather exotic-sounding ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), port operators across the world are finding themselves in the unfamiliar territory of transformative development. Historically landside maritime development has always been a slow process, perennially lagging behind technological advancements, it is not known for facilitating quick decisions.
But things are changing for port operators. We don’t need to look far for examples of this. The arrival of ultra-large containerships (ULCS) with capacities of 16,000 to 18,000 TEU and above has thrown even the best container terminals into turbulence. The fact that this has happened in the past two to three years sets the pace for the kind of rapid evolutionary changes that port operators are faced with to survive the coming decades.
Transformative evolution
The road to transformation is paved with technology, innovation and human enterprise. Modern technology has armed us with the ability to shorten the time it takes to build a container terminal, upgrade and refit existing STS cranes to handle new generation mega ships, and increase safety at yards and berths by using automation and remote controlled operations.
Transformation need not be an alien word for the industry. The humble container…