2018-09-20
All is set and ready to go for the 2018 Global Harbor Cities Forum scheduled for September 25th – 27th at the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center in the southern Taiwan metropolis of Kaohsiung. The Kaohsiung City Government is this year’s forum sponsor, while the Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC) has been tasked to plan and organize three of the sessions. It is hoped that the forum will further deepen port-harbor synergies in Kaohsiung City through increased interaction and cooperation and will move both ever closer to high “harbor city” ideals.
As with the 1st Global Harbor Cities Forum in 2016, the 2nd forum is being held in Kaohsiung City with the objectives of extending and deepening cooperation and sharing among the world’s “harbor cities”. The theme of this year’s forum is “Here and Beyond: Forces Affecting Our Future”, with subtopics addressing “youthful innovation and startups”, “conventions and tourism”, “sustainable green environments”, “the new maritime economy”, and “new smart cities”. Top experts and scholars from around the world will serve as moderators, speakers, and panelists, giving participants prescient and practical insights into market trends worldwide.
TIPC is taking the lead on arranging the two subtopics “the new maritime economy” and “new smart cities”. Focusing, respectively, on cruise ships and smart ports, TIPC has invited 10 international and 5 domestic eminent experts to share their relevant experiences and insights regarding the latest trends, the key challenges, and the key opportunities for innovation and transformation.
One of the issues to be addressed under the subtopic of “the new maritime economy” is the recent strong growth in the cruise vacation industry in East Asia and how TIPC is working to retool its infrastructure and services to take strategic advantage of the new “cruise economy”. Year-on-year cruise passenger numbers have been growing exponentially since 2012, with an expanded network of Asia-Pacific routes adding fuel to the cruise tourism boom and opening up major new opportunities for business. On the issue “Opportunities for Cooperation at the Intersection of Asia Cruise Routes and Port-of-Call Cities”, TIPC plans to focus discussions on two key aspects. Two international cruise ship executives and representatives from one Japanese and one South Korean port city will launch into discussions of the East Asia route planning activities of cruise ship companies, successful examples of cruise company – city cooperation enhancing the attractiveness of specific port-of-call destinations, and benchmark examples of how harbor cities in East Asia have positively and successfully enhanced their soft and hard tourism infrastructures.
Advancing technologies are making artificial intelligence (AI) a force that is both challenging and reshaping nearly every industry. TIPC addresses AI trends in the “new smart cities” subtopic in two discussion sessions, respectively entitled “A Blueprint for Developing Smart Ports” and “AI Applications in the Port Sector – Developments in Self-Navigating Boats and Container Yard Automation”.
Commercial port operations are at the core of TIPC’s business, and the company works constantly to maximize and improve its operating efficiencies and flexibility. The recent consolidation and reorganization of the global shipping industry in recent years highlights the ongoing trend in the market toward fewer companies with significantly greater size and influence. The continued trend toward larger commercial container ships is driving ports to focus development on honing operational efficiencies and on making effective use of automation. Thus, in the session “A Blueprint for Developing Smart Ports”, TIPC has invited representatives from ports at the forefront of the smart-port movement in Japan and South Korea to share the bottlenecks encountered during implementation, the related solutions, and the resultant benefits. Their insights will provide critical references to TIPC’s ongoing and future work to promote world-class smart ports in Taiwan.
In the session “AI Applications in the Port Sector – Developments in Self-Navigating Boats and Container Yard Automation”, TIPC has invited representatives from companies at the forefront of promoting self-navigation technologies and automated container yard systems. A representative from a Norwegian-based tech firm will take the stage to share the current state of development for both technologies from his company’s perspective.
TIPC has expressed that this year’s Global Harbor Cities Forum is uniquely innovative, diverse, and international. With the active support of TIPC and lively, productive interactions between the GHCF attendees and the domestic and international experts, this forum promises to be an engine of harbor-city industry transformation and urban development and to suggest promising directions for innovation and breakthroughs in international port operations and sustainable environmental management.
* Contact：Nai-wen Chang
* Phone：07-5219000#3301
Source： Ministry of Transportation
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