Last week, the Port Authority of Valencia (Valenciaport) presented its Smart Port strategy at the “Smart Ports & Supply Chain Technologies” conference in Rotterdam. The event was organized by Port Technology (PTI) on 2-3 October and addressed such key topics as digitization of ports; intelligent supply chain; data exchange and integration; collaboration and standardization.

According to the port’s press service, Valenciaport introduced the concept of a smart port as a provider of services based on Big Data and blockchain technologies and shared its vision on how these could be implemented.

Jose Garcia de la Guia, Head of Information Technologies at Valencia Port Authority, said: “At Valenciaport we consider the use of the blockchain as a strategic option to grant visibility to the whole logistics chain, from end to end. This means that we are contemplating to enhance the service to embrace not only the companies that are incorporated into our Port Community Systems but also those who are not. And this will be achieved with the help of cloud technologies.”

De la Guia explains that working with Big Data and the Blockchain technologies in the cloudprovides significant advantages when compared to the use of own servers, as at present.

“We are moving towards a port without papers, with a powerful technological component, which can be accessed from anywhere in the world,” he said. “This will give us a new platformof Port Community Systems,without technical or growth limitations, to offer new and improve existing services that we provide to various stakeholders. A platform, with new criteria for optimization of infrastructure resources, with reduced development times and maintenance costs.”

The conference speakers included representatives of the ports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Valencia, Algeciras, Barcelona (Hutchison Ports BEST), of such companies as Boston Consulting Group, Royal Haskoning, TBA Group, NAVIS, Kalmar, CargoX, XVELA, as well as UNCTAD and World Economic Forum.