Ports play pivotal role in the global supply chain network. To strengthen the ports’ business and to keep up with the overall economic development of the country, the port stakeholders have started to invest in the digital technologies. The ports as well as the individual municipalities in Europe are in contest with other ports within the region. One of the competing factors is that of the port’s technological development. Unlike large ports, the small ports within Europe, for example Port of Karlskrona, Port of Wismar or Port of Klaipeda, which also serve as crucial nodes within the trade flow for Sweden, Germany and Lithuania respectively, lack the knowledge and tools to leverage the potential of digital technologies. The digital disruption at ports is inevitable!
With that being established the scope of the project - South Baltic Small Ports as Gateways towards Integrated Sustainable European Transport System and Blue Growth by Smart Connectivity Solutions – or Connect2SmallPorts project is to understand how to facilitate small and medium ports of the South Baltic region with the digital technologies - Blockchain and Internet of Things. During the project lifetime (2018 to 2021) the main goals are to perform the digital audit of small ports of the South Baltic region; to prepare an implementation strategy for Blockchain and Internet of Things specifically for the small ports in the South Baltic region and to conduct an evaluation of the proposed strategies. The project correspondingly aims to disseminate the knowledge and experiences through research publications, industrial conferences and international tradeshows.
Poster accepted for “Accelerating the Velocity of Marine Transportation and Port Technologies: Moving Freight Faster and More Transparently, Reliably, and Safely” poster session at the Transportation Research Board’s 99th Annual Meeting on January 12–16, 2020 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.