The United Nation’s Economic and Social Committee for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) held a capacity building workshop on port digitalisation and smart ports in Bangkok on 29 and 30 November. Pascal Ollivier, chairman of the IAPH Data Collaboration Committee, gave a keynote address at the workshop, which was attended by 70 representatives of port authorities and ministries. The workshop highlighted the leading role of ESCAP as UN Regional Commission on port digitalisation matters among other UN regional commissions. While there are many projects, including maritime single windows, port community systems and smart ports, at different levels of development, the maturity level of digitalisation in ASEAN ports is 1.5 on a scale of 3, according to a recent smart port report that was adopted during the 29th ASEAN Transport Ministers meeting in early November. The recent World Bank IAPH Report on Port Community Systems and the WCO-IAPH port-customs guidelines that IAPH produced with the World Customs Organization for the IAPH World Ports Conference were welcomed as valuable contributions to further support Asia Pacific Members States and Port Authorities.
