Developing a smart port architecture and essential elements in the era of Industry 4.0

With rapid technological innovations spurred by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), today’s seaports are pressured to transform the way they operate in order to handle traffic flows. Such a transformation calls for the development of a smart port system. Despite the growing interest in smart ports, their underlying framework, architecture, and potential ramifications for port productivity are not well documented in the maritime logistics literature. To help port communities better comprehend smart port concepts and successfully develop a smart port within a global supply chain, this paper synthesizes core smart port concepts, designs underlying architecture, and proposes specific milestones for monitoring the smart port development project. We use content analysis and then we identify key success factors (e.g., essential components for the smart port architecture, value propositions, smart port performance metrics) for the establishment and sustainable growth of the smart port. The paper also aims to provide practical guidance for dealing with smart port challenges and opportunities. Our research reveals that a smart port reduces port-user response time, improves port asset utilization, and enhances maritime logistics visibility by automating and integrating end-to-end port operations digitally without human intervention.