Analysis of industry 4.0 and their impact on port environmental management

Abstract

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is a reality in several business segments worldwide. Technologies (I4.0) collaborate to improve production processes, in manufacturing or in services. The use of these technologies in port operations for container handling can assist in environmental management and allows the service system to be sustainable. This research analyzed the use of technologies from I4.0, applied in port handling operations of containers, to verify their impact on environmental management. Some ports, of great international relevance, were searched for data collection regarding the use of I4.0 technologies and environmental management (port sustainability). These data were analyzed to understand the relationship between those technologies and sustainability in logistics operations (green operation). The focus of this study was to analyses some container terminal operations of five ports, to assess the use of I4.0 technologies and their impact, or not, on sustainable environmental management. The method of carrying out the research was the application of an online questionnaire to five Ports: Los Angeles (USA), Hamburg (Germany), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Singapore (Singapore) and Busan (South Korea) exclusively for container terminals. Public materials available on the websites of each port were also used. The questionnaire was developed by reviewing the literature on the topic (Digital Business – I4.0 and Sustainability – green operations). An online survey to collect information took place between September-2019 to June-2020, which was complemented with publicly accessible material on the internet. The collected data were treated statistically for analysis of the research information applied in the ports (mean, standard deviation, significance level, Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test, critical statistical value, correspondence analysis and relative frequency). Overall information was collected from 20 container terminals. Experts (managers and supervisors) responded the online survey.