China Unveils National AI Plan with 22 Applications for Ports and Shipping
Cubierto por 3 fuentesPublicado
China's Ministry of Transport unveiled this week a national artificial intelligence program aimed at ports and shipping, bringing together 22 priority applications. The initiative seeks to organize the rollout of AI around three pillars: navigational safety, operational productivity and the sector's environmental performance.
Program priorities
The document identifies nine applications related to safety, ten focused on operational efficiency and service quality, and three related to the energy transition. The measures include intelligent monitoring systems for dangerous goods at ports, automated cargo handling, coordinated management of logistics operations, vessel traffic management, and AI support for search and rescue operations at sea.
Scale of port automation
The announcement came alongside new details from the government on the scope of China's port automation. At a press conference in Shanghai ahead of the North Bund International Shipping Forum, Gao Haiyun, an official with the ministry's Water Transport Bureau, confirmed that the country already has 60 automated terminals for containers and dry bulk.
Results in Ningbo-Zhoushan and Qinzhou
The ministry highlighted concrete results from AI applications already in operation. At the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan, an AI-powered logistics optimization platform cut customers' cargo preparation time by 50%, order processing time by 66%, and average transport costs by 6.7%. In Qinzhou, according to official figures cited by Splash 247, an AI-based safety management system raised monitoring coverage to 95% and halved identified safety risks.
Inland waterways and port electrification
On inland waterways, the program calls for AI-based coordination of ten cascading locks on the Subei Canal, which could increase annual cargo throughput by 100 million tonnes and cut vessel waiting times by more than 20%. At the same time, the ministry reported that eight near-zero-carbon terminals have already been developed, that clean-energy trucks now account for more than 60% of vehicles at major international container ports, and that shore power covers more than 90% of specialized berths.
Warnings over implementation
Lloyd's List noted that Beijing's 22-point plan aims for safer operations, lower costs and faster decarbonization, but sets no concrete timelines or investment commitments, which could lead to uneven adoption and leave some projects as mere formal exercises.
