Smart Ports. How They Play a Key Role in the Great Power Competition 

This document is a summary of the “Smart Ports: How They Play a Key Role in the Great Power Competition” whitepaper dated July 2021. This summary includes an executive overview of the paper and a smart port definition. A discussion on the applicability of the Smart Port Framework, opportunities for risk mitigation, and the whitepaper’s conclusions are also included.

The full Smart Ports whitepaper focuses on the technical aspects of the modern seaport ecosystem and specifically analyzes the Port of Djibouti smart port implementation. The specific technologies and companies covered in the paper are not meant to be comprehensive, but rather, the most representative examples found within a smart port. Information and communication technologies (ICT), which include a broad set of capabilities that facilitate the transmission, storage, creation, sharing and exchange of information, are foundational to modern smart ports. The technologies are discussed within the context of commercial container ports rather than military, passenger, or other commodity-specific ports, such as fishing ports. As there is a strong affinity between seaports and airports,the scope briefly touches on the similarities and applicability of a smart city framework to smart airports and seaports.

Furthermore, the paper is oriented to smart port applications as they pertain to Digital Silk Road (DSR) seaports. We compare two port examples, the Port of Djibouti in Djibouti and the Durban Container Port (DCT) in South Africa (SA), to illustrate potential impacts of the DSR in eastern Africa associated with the stakeholders and actors relative to these ports.

The audiences for the whitepaper are internal MITRE Great Power Competition (GPC) researchers, DSR practitioners, and MITRE’s U.S. government sponsors, as well as others who are interested in smart port technologies and potential courses of action relative to GPC.