Huawei promotes ICT technology to support Thailand’s digital port transformation
Today, around 90% of global trade is carried out by sea. Ports, as the bridges linking the world's maritime fleets, connect the global trade and supply market. Because of this, efficient and intelligent ports are becoming increasingly more important in the global supply chain.
In addition, ports also play a pivotal role in promoting international trade and economic development for the country of Thailand. Prioritizing the digital and intelligent development of ports, as well as building green ecologically conscious ports, have therefore become the consensus of the industry and is considered a tangible way to achieve sustainable economic development in Thailand.
Huawei and Port Authority of Thailand sign MOU on developing Smart Port Project
During this year’s MBBF hosted in Thailand, Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) for strategic cooperation on the research and development of smart port, 5G port, and green port technologies. The partnership aims to upskill talent in preparation for the current digital transformation landscape.
This is the first time that Huawei has established a strategic MOU with the Port Authority of Thailand. Through this partnership, Huawei will support the transformation of Thailand’s port industry into the digital era over a three-year term specified in the memorandum. The cooperation will focus on joint efforts to research and establish port digitalization, 5G ports, and green ports, as well as to upskill talent through a variety of learning and training activities. This will facilitate Thailand’s digital infrastructure development and push forward Thailand’s digital transformation.
H.E. General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand, attended a 2021 Virtual Executive Meeting with Mr. Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei Technologies, to talk about Smart Ports
Before signing the Smart Port MOU with PAT, Huawei Thailand proposed to use high-tech technologies, such as ICT technologies, to help Thailand build smart ports.
In 2021, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand, attended a virtual executive meeting with Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei Technologies. H.E. General Prayut expressed appreciation for Huawei's continued support of Thailand's digital transformation and post-pandemic recovery, as well as his eagerness to further strengthen cooperation with Huawei to help promote the Thailand 4.0 strategy and digital talent cultivation.
During this meeting, Ren Zhengfei mentioned that: “Among these actions, smart ports and airports are important potential cooperation areas for Huawei and Thailand”. He also introduced the company’s best practices in smart port and smart airport solutions in China, which builds automation capabilities based on multiple factors — such as people, vehicles, goods, enterprises, and places — to help build safe, efficient, and intelligent world-class ports and airports.
Huawei said that it would maintain depth cooperation with Thailand in the smart port field to improve port efficiency and reduce operating costs.
Huawei Hopes to introduce the successful Tianjin Port experience to Thailand and help build digital infrastructure in Thailand
Renting large cargo ships costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per day. Every hour spent waiting or working can cause wasteful expenditures of tens of thousands of dollars alone, a true embodiment of the phrase "time is money". Traditional ship docks also require human planning and management, often taking 24 hours to clear, and the processes of which cannot be easily optimized on a global scale. Now, thanks to the ultra-large bandwidth and ultra-low latency of 5G, digital transformation can be fully enabled.
In China, Tianjin port is one of China's most technologically advanced ports and is a vital hub for the One Belt One Road initiative. Today, Tianjin Port has introduced Huawei 5G+4L autonomous driving into its operations, making the smart port safer and more efficient by adopting intelligent port planning systems, which shorten the operation planning time from 24 hours to just 10 minutes. Not only is the time shortened, but the overall quality is also dramatically improved and planning even considers sudden occurrences such as typhoon weather and equipment failures. Each container now consumes 20% less energy and cranes are 20% more efficient on average, with each crane operating 39 container units every hour.
At the port, remotely controlled quay cranes stably pick up containers that are loaded with cargo from the ships before loading them onto unmanned electric container trucks. Under the guidance of the BeiDou navigation satellite system, the container trucks go to automatic locking/unlocking stations and then drive to the container yard, all while following optimal driving routes calculated in real time. The whole process is completed seamlessly in one go with these automatically guided vehicles solving driver shortage problems and greatly reducing safety risks.
The time spent by ships in the port has also reduced by 7%. Due to the improved loading and unloading efficiency of the terminal, with a throughput of 3 million TEUs, this can increase its annual revenue by up to 29 million. In total, there are five container terminals in Tianjin Port and the potential for efficiency gains in the future is considerable.
Currently, Thailand is the leader in 5G applications in the ASEAN region and certain technologies have started to be piloted in many sectors, including 5G smart railway stations in Bangkok, 5G smart districts in Chiang Mai, 5G smart agriculture in Chiang Rai, and 5G smart ports in Chonburi, etc.
Huawei is ready to support the move towards intelligent industries in Thailand with technologies such as 5G, AI, and cloud, in order to accelerate the digital transformation and upgrade of ports to be more automated and intelligent. By bringing the successful experiences of Tianjin port to Thailand, Huawei seeks to create new business opportunities for Thailand and stimulate greater potential in the industrial sector.
Abel Deng, CEO of Huawei Technologies Thailand, explained: “Huawei is willing to provide advanced digital transformation solutions to Thailand and is committed to using ICT technologies such as 5G, AI, and cloud to drive the digital transformation of Thailand's ports. By building a sample of smart ports in Thailand, we hope to make positive contributions to the output of the "Thailand solution" and to the greater ASEAN region.”
