Abstract
The Physical Internet (PI), a new vision for the future of the global freight transport and logistics system, describes a geographical hierarchy of interconnected networks of networks, from the urban, to the national, the continental, and the global level. Like today, in PI the maritime ports will fulfil roles as continental and global hubs. Differently than ports today, however, decisions to split and bundle cargo across ships and other modes will not be made solely on the basis of long-term agreements by ports, but rather ever more dynamically and in real-time, aiming to reconsolidate shipments within the port area. This implies a need to reconsider the currently used information systems (ISs), and to gain understanding of future requirements to satisfy their needs. We exploit a design science research (DSR) approach to shape these requirements. Among the many components of future ISs, we study ports’ track-and-trace (T&T) capability. The proposed information architecture (IA) enables to integrate T&T capability in PI ports by means of information carried on PI containers into the logistics chain via an open interface platform, which also supports interoperability among the various actors’ ISs. The design is based on the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0). This model supports the analysis of PI ports in key dimensions along with hierarchical logistics entities, which could be used as a blueprint for IAs of PI ports, globally. We provide insights into the approach’s applicability by means of the illustrative case of Teesport, located in Northeast England (United Kingdom).
Highlights
Throughout the past centuries, the facilitation of international trade has made significant contributions to the current level of globalization, as well as to global welfare and economy
The problem addressed in this paper is that ports need to adapt their T&T systems if they want to become part of and play an essential role in the global Physical Internet (PI) network
The information architecture (IA) design approach allows us to explore the potential of key PI elements for ports to cope with future challenges in the PI
Summary
Throughout the past centuries, the facilitation of international trade has made significant contributions to the current level of globalization, as well as to global welfare and economy. Being the gateway between land and sea, maritime ports function as critical enablers of international trade and global supply chains. Ports continuously need to evolve by adapting to their external environment in terms of changing economic and trading patterns, new technologies, legislation, and port governance systems. A system innovation that is already impacting the current economic and trading patterns, technologies, legislation, and governance systems, is the Physical Internet (PI). In 2011, Montreuil (2011) introduced the vision of the PI as one of an open global freight logistics system founded on physical, digital and operational hyperconnectivity through encapsulation, interfaces, and protocols. The PI is expected to strengthen the economic, environmental, and societal sustainability and efficiency of global logistics (Montreuil et al, 2012)
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