Smart Maritime Network Dubai Conference

Digital innovation is now at the heart of global shipping and trade, where an historic lack of visibility within the supply chain has led to a disjointed industry with legacy costs and inefficiencies from a pre-digital era.

It is now widely recognised that data sharing and information exchange will improve business continuity, reduce risk and enhance performance. A more transparent industry will not only create inherent accountability and trust among actors but will also enable a faster response to regulatory requirements and an improved route towards the collective shipping and transport industry goal of sustainability.

This recognition and desire for greater transparency is leading to an uptake in ever smarter solutions – including initiatives to streamline and digitalise the exchange of information along the supply chain, as well as IoT innovations in tracking and tracing. All these developments require access to increasingly sophisticated digital networks which come with new sets of challenges, including legislative, policy and security issues.

In order to create a smarter maritime and logistics ecosystem, standardisation and inter-operability of systems and transport modes will be crucial. This will require the participation, and therefore the collaboration, of a whole raft of industry stakeholders – both government and private sector.

Dubai has shown itself to be pivotal to leading the way in these required platforms and alliances – with organisations such as DP World partnering with others to create new frameworks – such as by joining Tradelens, acquiring SeaRates.com and creating the Digital Freight Alliance.

The Digital Silk Road projects are another example of Dubai’s ambitious technology plan to revolutionise global trade. Many others in the region have launched notable initiatives in these areas too.

SMN Dubai 2021 will investigate how digitalisation and innovation will help future proof the transport chain to ever more complex challenges, especially those that have arisen since Covid-19.

Join some of the industry's leading experts, both local and international, at the Conrad Dubai on November 9th to discuss these and other major challenges in digitalising the global transport and supply chain, as part of the first Smart Maritime Network Dubai Conference.