During my internship at Maritime Logistics Research Center, I had one of the best Learning Experience that I am going to share here.
To start with, ports are not quays and cranes. They are systems in which three layers need to be reconciled, physical (berths, roads, rail), process (customs, safety, workflows), and data (who needs what information, and when). Most of the delays do not occur in one machine; the delay is seen where the layers do not coincide.
Second, mini-digital victories are most important in the initial stage. An E-delivery order, E-gate pass, shared-reliable ETA, every minute is saved. Together, they remove days. Starting with basic tools that everyone is familiar with, ”Smart port” takes shape.
Third, culture determines results. In low-hierarchy teams change is transmitted via open problem-solving. In a more hierarchical environment change becomes entrenched where leaders are seen to sponsor it and where the gains are realized immediately on day one. Culture rollouts to the design you have.
Fourth, green = operational. Shore power, just-in-time arrivals and cleaner equipment not only reduce emissions; it reduces noise, fuel and conflict. When planned, sustainability and reliability sustained one another.
Finally, geopolitics is not background music–a design constraint. Anything can cause a cable outage, tariffs, storms, strikes: the first step toward resilience is redundancy in power, data, finance and routing. When a plan can only work on good days it is not a plan.
The greatest transformation was change of perspective. Ports have become to me an expression of promise: to ships (reliability), to communities (clean operations) and to shippers (reliable schedules). Making those promises is primarily coordination, rather than concrete. That is the silent art of seaport logistics, and it that transforms a port into a platform.
Writer Hridoy Hossain Santo is a logistics student. He completed his internship at the Maritime Logistics Research Center.
Text: Hridoy Hossain Santo
Photos: Pixabay/EvgeniT and Hridoy Hossain Santo