Taiwan International Ports Corporation, Ltd.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is investing in smart transportation applications that tap into the latest advanced-technology innovations and trends. The Bulletin of the Transportation Technology Industry, launched and regularly updated under the guidance of MOTC Minister Lin Chia-lung, is a one-stop resource for related interagency developments and government policy directions and an effective platform for promoting the continued, practical development of the transportation-technology sector. A special forum was held today (September 8th) that brought various related agencies together with representatives from industry, government, academia, and research institutions as well as sea and air shipping companies to discuss developments and strategies related to the introduction and use of new technologies in sea and air freight shipping-sector services. The goal of this forum was to keep Taiwan on an optimal path forward for integrating smart transportation applications into this sector, creating and maintaining smart gateways to the world and stimulating opportunities and growth in related domestic industries.

The “Trans-Smart: Pilot of the New Future” forum, held at the GIS MOTC Convention Center, was cosponsored by the MOTC’s Department of Navigation and Aviation, Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC), and Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC). MOTC Political Deputy Minister Yu-lin Huang gave the welcoming address. In light of the importance of Taiwan’s sea and airports as ‘gateways’ to and from the world and as hubs of global transportation, cleaving closely to current smart-tech trends is critical to ensuring that Taiwan’s commercial sea and airports provide world-class hospitality to arriving and departing passengers. Thus, in addition to exhibiting the latest technologies, the sponsors also introduced the potential future smart-tech applications that will integrate AI, IoT, and big data functions into Taiwan’s sea and airports, accelerating the smart ‘renaissance’ already underway and opening the doors to a new digital age in national sea and air transportation that will enhance the overall competitiveness of our international ‘gateways’.

Each of the forum sessions elicited lively and substantive participation. The speaker from TIAC discussed the present and future of smart airports, presenting from the passenger’s perspective the airport’s vision for 5G, with topics addressing potential future O2O retailing, autonomous vehicle, biometrics, robotics, and IoT applications. The speaker noted that TIAC was keeping close tabs on fast-changing technologies in order to build Taoyuan International into one of the world’s leading smart airports as well as a site for testing and perfecting new technology applications, inspiring new domestic and international innovation and stimulating new smart-sector business opportunities. In terms of Taiwan’s seaports, TIPC launched its Trans-SMART initiative after evaluating benchmark smart-port initiatives from around the world and the needs of its subsidiary ports in order effectively address the question of how to best integrate and implement today’s fast-changing technologies. The speaker from TIPC presented an animated film illustrating smart-tech implementation progress in the various core functions at TIPC ports. Smart technologies are being used at these ports to improve service efficiencies as well as to spur the domestic port and navigation sector to strive toward new development milestones. TIPC is promoting its ports as centers of new smart-port applications in hopes of attracting new investment from innovative domestic and overseas firms, significantly enhancing Taiwan’s port gateways, and strengthening the global competitiveness of Taiwan’s shipping industry.

In order to further Taiwan’s progress in achieving its vision of smart sea and airports, the forum provided a stage for demonstrating a wide variety of applications. One of these, a VIP passenger facial-recognition check-in system, gave forum visitors a glimpse of future airport travel. The technology embedded in this system may one day allow outbound international passengers to breeze through security checks with just their e-ticket and a quick face scan as well as scan their face to purchase duty-free items and board their flight. Taoyuan International Airport’s latest interactive app was introduced at the forum as well. This app, incorporating advanced AR-based navigation functions, may be ready for public download as early as the end of this year. TIPC’s “Port of Kaohsiung Smart Environment Network” was also demonstrated at the forum. The network lets users navigate through a VR recreation of the Port of Kaohsiung in 3D and review environmental and operational status information in real time.

The many smart-port service experiences highlighted at this forum underscore the commitment and progress made by Taiwan’s sea and airports in developing and implementing smart technology applications. The forum is an important platform for the government and sea / air shipping industries to communicate and exchange ideas and experiences. For their part, the government and Taiwan’s major sea and airports will continue following international smart-tech trends and developments, step up the rollout of smart applications and systems, and continue integrating the efforts and responsibilities of relevant government agencies in order to lead Taiwan’s transportation sector into the latest iteration of the digital economy and enhance the global competitiveness of Taiwan businesses.