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Deeptalk with Jens Meier - How deeptech play roles for Ports of the Future?

30.10.2024

It was the last sunny day before the Autumn really started in Hamburg. Jens was in a good mood that afternoon, as always. The team homePORT had an opportunity to sit down with him and have a talk on the topics of deep tech and the future of ports.

Jens Meier is the CEO of the Hamburg Port Authority, managing the third largest European Port, and the President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours.  As he is very busy, we are very grateful for the opportunity to interview him about his thoughts on this important topic.

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homePORT: Good afternoon, Jens. It is nice you have time for us. Actually, this interview was intended to be conducted at the Homecoming Homeport on July 3. But then, many unforeseen incidents in the city happened on that day and mixed up our schedules. Therefore, Thank you very much, Jens, for giving us the opportunity to interview you for our homePORT community.

Jens Meier: My pleasure, you are welcome!

homePORT: As a person with a passion for technology and digitalisation, you have been realising the importance and immense potentials of digital solutions to enhance maritime transport chains. Ports face challenges due to globalisation, demographic shifts, and urbanization. Deeptech solutions enable ports to address these challenges effectively. Which technologies could be classified as deeptech. Could you please give us an example?

Jens Meier: Deeptech, or deep technology, refers to innovations based on scientific discoveries or engineering breakthroughs. Unlike regular tech, which might focus on software or apps, deeptech involves more complex fields like artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum computing, and advanced materials.

homePORT:  Could you give some examples in the context of port industry?

Jens Meier: Sure, an example would be a use case regarding Smart Infrastructure.  We deploy autonomous vehicles like drones or small surveying vessel equipped with sensors to measure or inspect the infrastructure objects in our port. The data we capture can be analysed in real-time using analytics with AI-capabilities like computer vision. The massive data cannot be processed in real-time on the normal computer, which is why we use quantum computing. With these different deep technologies combined, we can realise predictive maintenance to optimize port facilities and equipment.

homePORT: One of your favourite topics is cybersecurity which becomes very important these days due to the critical geopolitical state of play. You are very vocal and a leading advocate to this topic. How do you expose this topic in your organisation and your port community around the world?

Jens Meier: Cybersecurity is indeed a critical focus for us at the Hamburg Port Authority, especially given the current geopolitical climate. We approach this in several ways.

Firstly, we prioritize raising awareness across all levels of our organization. This involves regular training sessions and workshops to ensure that everyone at HPA understands the risks and knows how to mitigate them. It’s about creating a culture of vigilance and preparedness.

Secondly, we’ve implemented a strategic roadmap to enhance our cybersecurity measures. This includes significant investments in advanced technologies and infrastructure to protect against cyberattacks and ensure the resilience of our port operations. We are constantly updating our systems to stay ahead of potential threats.

Collaboration is another cornerstone of our approach. We actively partner with other ports, industry leaders, and cybersecurity experts to share knowledge and best practices. This collaborative effort helps us build a stronger defines against cyber threats.

Ensuring digital trust is also a key priority. As we continue to digitalize our operations, managing cyber risks is crucial to maintaining trust in our digital systems. We implement robust security protocols and continuously monitor for potential vulnerabilities.

Lastly, we engage with the broader community to promote cybersecurity awareness. This includes participating in industry forums, speaking at conferences, and contributing to public discussions on the importance of cybersecurity in the maritime sector. By doing so, we aim to foster a more secure and resilient port environment that can withstand the evolving cyber threats of today and tomorrow. 

homePORT: Talking a bit about the future. In the book of “Next.2030” published 2023, you have envisioned the port of the future in the year 2030. Could you bring us with you on the timeline, how this could look like?

Jens Meier: Of course, I’m very happy to do that! Even if it feels like 2030 is already just around the corner, I can still see some serious changes! I always try to visualize the future by imagining, how it will feel, smell and look to walk out onto the balcony of Waterfront and see the changes that we will have achieved by 2030.

At the moment, the streets of the port are filled with thousands of trucks carting millions of containers, transporting them from the entire “Hinterland” region to the port or the other way around. Huge loudly squeaking cranes load the containerships of impressive size, which can’t turn of their engines and therefore roar loudly and pollute the air.

But imagining, stepping on the balcony in 2030, visualizing the changes over the next few years, this situation has changed drastically. The port is now a quiet and clean place. Of course, operations will still be very busy, but trucks will hardly pollute the air with CO2 emissions and noisy diesel engines because they will be running on electricity or hydrogen. The number of ships capable of running on shore power has increased to such an extent that engines can be switched off for the most parts during lay days. Drones take over work that is difficult or dangerous for our employees to do.

I think I could fill the entire interview with where I see us in the future, but before I go completely beyond the scope, I’d rather summarize. In my vision, I see a progressive, calm and clean port, characterized by innovation and a willingness to act.

homePORT: Beside the CEO of the Hamburg Port Authority, you are also the President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours. Could you please give us an overview on the current state of digitalization in port operations and how deeptech can accelerate this process?

Jens Meier: In recent years, if not decades, the international ports have made enormous efforts to drive forward digitalization and automation. No one can afford to ignore this topic anymore, and we can see that very clearly today.

Nevertheless, we can see that there has been too little exchange at a single level within these efforts, so that there are differences in the stages of development. To put it very roughly, you could now divide it up according to the 4 cardinal points.

For example, the north is quite advanced in terms of digitalization. The south needs to focus on the basic level of this topic. This in turn offers opportunities for greenfield developments. The West has a great understanding of digital transformation (process-, people-, technology-driven), whereas the East is better at automation and is more process- and technology-driven.

You can see that it’s not just about IT but also about OT. Deeptech is an important keyword here. This refers to technology solutions that result from specific technical and scientific challenges. Especially when it comes to decarbonization, we cannot rely on software alone. We need solution-oriented, hardware-based technology here. However, this must also be used to develop software. So, everything is interdependent and increases the pressure to find a holistic solution. Digitization must work even faster and hardware-oriented technology is a key.

Associations such as the IAPH are so important precisely in order to create a common basis in this area, and of course in many others and to solve such overarching challenges together.

homePORT: In your initial examples mentioned earlier, you talked about autonomous vessels. What role do autonomous vessels play in the future of maritime transport, and what challenges need to be addressed?

Jens Meier: Autonomous vessels have the potential to significantly transform the maritime transport chain in terms of cost reductions, operational flexibility, more sustainable transportation and more.

In developing these and other functions, Europe is actively seeking a leadership role in autonomous shipping, with advances in fully autonomous navigation systems and operations. These systems could lead to significant fuel savings and contribute to a greener, more sustainable maritime future. In addition, Waterborne, a European maritime advocacy group, describes another possible application. Autonomous ships could act as modular control and communication technologies, enabling wireless monitoring and control functions on board and ashore.

However, several challenges must be addressed to fully realize their benefits. These challenges include ensuring operational safety and defining a regulatory framework.

homePORT: The HPA was an early adopter of immersive technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR, like HoloLens). How have these technologies been impacting the port operations, from training to maintenance and workflow improvement in the port of Hamburg?

Jens Meier: The possibilities for AR are many and varied. Along the entire life cycle of buildings, bridges, etc., for example, we find a large number of application examples in which AR can offer enormous potential.

Thanks to AR, every building can be viewed in real size during the planning stage, before the first sod is turned. This means you can walk through the rooms, corridors, doors and parks as if they had actually been built, without having to touch a single brick.

But there can also be huge benefits during construction. AR can significantly simplify the inspection of construction sites by virtually reproducing the planned construction progress and, for example, making incorrectly placed walls directly recognizable. You don’t even need a tape measure. Everything is visualized within the AR as planned. If there are any deviations on the construction site, this can be recognized directly and in the shortest possible time, without much effort.

Maintenance can also be supported. AR can not only be used to document cracks, for example, but also to display past damage. Let’s assume a crack was discovered and documented in a wall a year ago. Thanks to AR, we can now view the crack and check whether the size, width or depth has changed. On top of that we find use cases for autonomous robots like SPOT, which can carry out (visual) inspections on its own. The results of these inspections can be reproduced and visualized by AR, so specialists can evaluate and react on the results. But I guess that’s beyond the scope of the question.

homePORT: The topic “Sustainability”, in particular „energy transition” cannot be missed out in any discussion of the port anymore, as it  became a very important pillar of the port operation and future business model. In what use cases are ports working to reduce energy consumption and emissions using AI and data analytics?

Jens Meier: Ports are complex environments with various energy-consuming operations, from cranes and container handling equipment to servers and administration equipment to lighting and heating systems. By integrating AI, we can monitor and analyse energy usage across the whole port in real-time. This allows us to optimize energy consumption by, for example, automatically adjusting the power usage of equipment based on current demand or predicting peak usage times and shifting non-essential operations to off-peak hours.

Another important application lies in predictive Maintenance. Ports need to be able to rely on a vast array of machinery and infrastructure without exceptions. By using AI and data analytics, we are able to predict, when equipment or infrastructure needs to be renewed, based on historic data, sensor readings and usage patterns. This allows us to operate maintenance proactively, ensuring equipment and infrastructure runs efficiently and avoiding the higher energy consumption that often comes with poorly maintained infrastructure, that requires costly and emission-intensive repair work. Moreover, this approach also extends the lifecycle of our assets.

MOZART is used in a somehow similar way. MOZART stands for mobility optimization, digital-twin analysis in real-time traffic and is a new system, used to reduce emissions due to unnecessary stop-and-go traffic at traffic lights, especially for trucks. AI is used to communicate with each individual vehicle and synchronize movements and traffic light phases on certain routes. The system calculates the most efficient cycles of green and red lights so that junctions coordinate with each other, and the transit and flow of trucks is optimised as much as possible.

homePORT: That sounds very promising and forward-looking. We know that you are very encouraging the collaboration and cooperation between ports. The last question for you: what  do you wish for in  terms of collaboration among ports, especially in the context of the current global challenges?

Jens Meier: My vision for collaboration among ports is rooted in the belief that we can achieve far more together than we can individually. Firstly, I wish for enhanced knowledge sharing. Ports around the world face similar challenges, from cybersecurity threats to environmental sustainability. By sharing best practices and innovative solutions, we can collectively improve our resilience and efficiency.

Secondly, I hope to see stronger partnerships in green initiatives. For instance, our recent collaboration with the Port of Argentia on green hydrogen transport is a prime example of how ports can work together to drive the global energy transition. Such partnerships are crucial for developing robust supply chains for sustainable fuels and reducing our carbon footprint.

Additionally, I advocate that ports become trustworthy data intermediaries. By secure data collaboration through standardized digital platforms, we can streamline operations and enhance transparency across the maritime industry. This not only improves efficiency but also builds trust among stakeholders.

Lastly, I wish for a unified approach to cybersecurity. As digitalization continues to transform our industry, it’s imperative that ports collaborate on cybersecurity measures to protect our critical infrastructure from evolving threats. This includes joint training programs, shared threat intelligence, and coordinated response strategies.

By fostering these forms of collaboration, we can create a more resilient, sustainable, and secure global port network.

homePORT: Thank you very much, Jens, for your informative insights you shared with the homePORT community. We wish you and your team further great achievements towards the port of the future.

Jens Meier: Thank you for the interview.