Global Smart Ports Market - Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecast up to 2025

Smart ports are automated ports that use high-end smart technologies including AI, IoT, Big Data, and blockchain for improving performance and efficiency of the shipping industry. Smart ports record and monitor data and utilizes them to take better decisions. Growth in trade worldwide due to economic liberalization has led to an increase in the size of freighter ships for accommodating more cargo. With the size of freighter ships getting high, ports must adapt their planning based on requirement, which is easier if digitalization is implemented.

Global smart ports market is expected to reach ~$2 billion by the end of 2025, and the market will be driven by the growing need from ports for reducing time and cost of shipping through digital transformation.

In shipping industry, ports provide land and related services for port terminal operators. Some of the major ports for cargo exchange are Port of Shanghai, Port of Singapore, Port of Suzhou, Port of Guangzhou, Port of Tangshan, Port of Rotterdam, and Port of Busan. The main objective of the port terminal operator is to help freighter ships minimize their time in the ports by optimizing the flow of goods and getting a quicker customs clearance. Some of the major port terminal operators are Cosco Group, Hutchison Port, DP World, PSA International, China Merchant Port Holdings, APM Terminals, and Terminal Investment. Smart port, especially with the implementation of IoT influences the work schedule and operations at a port terminal operator level as well as the port level. For port authorities, IoT helps to provide better efficiency, reliability, and lower costs which can help to attract more clients including port terminal operators. IoT helps port terminal operators by providing better traceability and time savings. With smart ports, getting wide adoption the future will be more focused on the smartness level of the port rather than the size of the port, since smart ports will be the most preferred option for many freighter ships due to its smartness, time saving, and efficient operations. Implementation of IoT has helped the shipping industry to develop a better business model through the inclusion of subscriptions, apps, and XaaS.

Smart port implementation requires several steps. First step involves designing a strategy for smart port implementation. Since every port handles different type of cargo, smart port implementation requires different strategies based on port requirement. Second process involves understanding the major drawbacks of the traditional systems and addressing those. Next step, which is the last major step in the process involves the decision-making process of choosing a readymade technology or a custom solution. Some of the major smart ports (including underway projects) are Port of Rotterdam, Port of Hamburg, Port of Singapore, Port of Shanghai, Port of Los Angeles, Port of San Diego, and Port of Shenzhen.

Based on the geography, the global smart ports market is split into North America, Europe, APAC and RoW. RoW includes Middle East, South America, and Africa. Europe due to growing investment for smart ports in Western Europe generated a major share of the global smart ports market. Countries which generated a major part of the revenue are Singapore, China, South Korea, US, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium.

By throughput, the global smart ports market is segmented into high throughput ports and low throughput ports. Ports which have a throughput of more than 10 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) are classified as high throughput ports and rest are classified as low throughput ports. Many of the high throughput ports have undergone automation of container terminal operation.

By ports, the global smart ports market is segmented into sea ports and cargo ports. Seaports are general purpose ports designed for passenger travel and cargo shipment. Cargo ports also known as bulk ports are ports which handles special cargo shipment and can be loaded only through different mechanical means depending on the cargo.

By components, the global smart ports market is segmented into hardware, software, and services. Hardware comprises of IoT, AI, and blockchain enabling hardware devices. Software includes software solutions including dashboards for managing the data received through hardware devices. Services includes mainly implementation, maintenance, and training.

Major vendors in the global smart ports market are Trelleborg, IBM, ABB, Traxens, Siemens, Liebherr, AGT Group, Kerry Logistics, Huawei, Cisco, Nokia, Ericsson, Konecranes, Navis, Kalmar, ProDevelop, Inform, and Wärtsilä.

According to the author, the global smart ports market will grow at a CAGR of ~18% during the forecast period 2019–2025. The aim of this report is to define, analyze, and forecast the global smart ports market based on segments, which include ports, components, throughput, and region.

In addition, global smart ports market report helps venture capitalists in understanding the companies better and make well-informed decisions and is primarily designed to provide the company’s executives with strategically substantial competitor information, data analysis, and insights about the market, development, and implementation of an effective marketing plan.

• Global smart ports market comprises an analysis of vendors profile, which includes financial status, business units, key business priorities, SWOT, business strategies, and views.
• The report also covers the competitive landscape, which includes M&A, joint ventures & collaborations, and competitor comparison analysis.
• In the vendor profile section for companies that are privately held, the financial information and revenue of segments will be limited.