Can IBM and Cisco make Rotterdam the smartest, IoT connected port in the world?
Picture a giant container ship approaching the Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s busiest port by cargo tonnage and one that processes more than 140,000 ships a year. Now, imagine that the ship is operating autonomously—no human crew, guided by a complex array of IoT (Internet of Things) sensors constantly collecting data about weather and water conditions like wind, visibility, height of tide and tidal stream and feeding them through advanced routers and gateways into an artificial intelligence system for analysis and decision-making.
Far-fetched? Not at all. The Yara Birkeland, the first autonomous container ship in the world, is under construction in Norway at this moment and is due to be launched in 2019. The Port of Rotterdam has already announced its intention to be ready to handle autonomous vessels by 2025 and has joined forces with IBM to drive its Vision 2030 to become the smartest, connected port in the world. Said Paul Smits, chief financial officer of the Port of Rotterdam Authority:
We are taking action to become the smartest port in the world. Speed and efficiency is essential to our business, and requires us to use all of the data available to us. Thanks to real-time information about infrastructure, water, air, etc., we can enormously improve the service we provide to everyone who uses the port, and prepare to embrace the connected, autonomous shipping of the future.