Smart Ports: Piers of the Future 2021 returned to the Port of Barcelona for the third consecutive year, bringing together ports and stakeholders to answer pressing topics facing ports and cities.
Smart Ports: Piers of the Future brought in more than 6,000 unique viewers and over 20,000 video plays to find out more on how ports can become smarter, faster, and reduce their carbon footprint.
Viewers from across the planet tuned into the event, including: Colombia, Singapore, Morocco, Nigeria, United States, New Zealand, India, and Indonesia.
Opened by industry leaders including Port of Barcelona President Damià Calvet, Port of Los Angeles Director Gene Seroka, and Port of Antwerp President Annick De Ridder, the two-day event tackled innovation in ports through the SMART (Sustainability, Multimodal, Agility, Resilience, and Transparency) philosophy.
Through SMART, the seven ports and partnering stakeholders highlighted best practice use cases from their teams, as well as participated in challenging discussion on a wealth of topics facing ports and cities.
Emerging technologies including 5G, AI and Machine Learning, Drone technologies, and HyperPort technology programs were just a small section of the incredible number of solutions demonstrated by the ports over the two day event.
The Port of Barcelona opened the event through its Project Spotlight partnership with IBM, Vodafone, and Huawei on using 5G and AI to improve vessel tracking and monitoring of the 9,000 vessels a year that dock at the Port of Barcelona. Through collaboration with public and private partnerships, the opening session set the tone for the value of working together to create a true cutting-edge port-city community.
Smart Ports: Piers of the Future, partnered with Smart Cities World Congress also taking place in Barcelona, embodied the intent to collaborate between port authorities and the surrounding cities they serve.
A continuous theme throughout the event highlighted how port-city collaboration was crucial to answer key questions on the energy transition, creating a sustainable Blue Economy for the future, and digitalising processes to improve operations and reduce the sector’s carbon footprint.
The Blue Economy, embracing the utilisation of marine resources for the collective maritime industry, was a key panel session on how to create a sustainable future through economic advancement, protecting vast ocean ecosystems, and building a skilled, diverse and multitalented workforce.
The event was hosted by British Broadcast journalist David McClelland and Spanish broadcaster and presenter Ainhoa Arbizu. In 2022 the Port aims to host the event as a full in-person spectacle, bringing in speakers, experts, and attendees to the Port of Barcelona to collaborate, build relationships and serve communities across the globe.
For more information:
Ingrid Boqué Sastre
Hafen Hamburg
Tel: +49 40 42847-5270
Fax: +49 40 42847-2310
E-Mail: ingrid.boque@hpa.hamburg.de
Internet: hamburg-port-authority.de