Abstract
This paper focuses on measures towards sustainable development of coal ports based on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of the triple bottom line, and examines the integration and optimization roles of smart technologies on coal port sustainability in the era of the Internet of Things. By investigating the representative case of Huanghua Port, one of the largest coal transportation ports in China, this paper enables a better understanding of the coal port’s sustainable practices driven by smart technologies. This study provides measures on the intelligent renovation, coal dust pollution treatment, air pollution treatment and sewage treatment, the customer and employee satisfaction improvement, and community involvement as well as social reputation enhancement. The research investigates the effectiveness of measures on the coal port’s sustainability by examining changes in key performance indicators and further examines the integration and optimization roles of smart technologies. The findings show that the approach taken by the port can effectively promote the coal port’s sustainability. The intelligent operation control system linking the separate nodes in operation, the ecological intelligent control system integrating environmental protection functions, and the intelligent service platform linking supply chain members are interrelated and interact to achieve the continuous optimization of decisions towards coal port sustainability. This study offers managerial insights for the port operators and policymakers towards the sustainable and smart development of ports.
Highlights
As nodes in international transport networks, ports make a substantial contribution to regional and global economic development
By analyzing changes of key performance indicators in economic, environmental, and social dimensions, we further examine the effectiveness of measures taken by Huanghua port in enhancing coal port sustainability
Since the environmental challenges in the coal port area of Huanghua Port are especially severe in comparison to other port areas, we mainly focus on the environmental protection ways adopted by the coal port area of Huanghua Port, which is a typical representative of coal-handling ports in China
Summary
As nodes in international transport networks, ports make a substantial contribution to regional and global economic development. Even though port operators strive for economic viability, increasing environmental awareness posits new challenges to the management and development of ports. The Sustainable Development Goals (2030 UN Agenda) bring forward a higher requirement for the growth of ports. A total of 17 goals related to poverty, environmental degradation, economic growth, oceans, peace, and other critical elements are proposed to achieve a more sustainable future. In pursuit of port sustainability, an increasing number of researchers and practitioners have recognized the crucial role of the triple bottom line principle in port management. Sustainable development is challenging ports around the world to evaluate the impacts of their current operations and find ways of improving economic, environmental, and social performance and minimizing negative impacts [4,5]. This paper focuses on approaches towards the coal port’s sustainability and investigating the role of smart port development in it
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