PECULIARITIES OF USING “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE” (AI) AND “SMART LOGISTICS” TECHNOLOGIES FOR CREATING PRIMORSKY REGION’S IMAGE
AS A TRANSIT LOGISTICS AREA

Peter Yu. Samoylenko
Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok
Russian Society of Political Scientists, Moscow

Abstract: The article discusses the features and prospects for the formation through AI and “smart logistics” technologies Primorsky Region’s image as a transit logistics area in Asia-Pacific. Today, when the regional transport complex and transit cargo turnover (from Europe to Asia and vice versa) due to Western anti- Russian sanctions are in a state of reconstruction, principally new and advantageous conditions for the formation of the international image of the Russian Far East are being appeared. A special role in this aspect may be fulfilled by modern technologies, for example, connected with AI. They may significantly increase the efficiency of Primorsky Region’s economy (and first of all, logistics), make a contribution to formation of its international image as an area with high technology, innovative solutions and skilled management.

Keywords: “Pivot to the East” policy, Russian Far East, Asia-Pacific region, Northeast Asia, sanctions, Arctic, Northern Sea Route, international security, logistics, international image, transport, shipping, marine education, artificial intelligence, IT sector , technologies

Background

Historically, Primorsky Region (Primorye – in Russian spoken language) has always been closely connected with transport, as well as with transit logistics. Since the creation of the first permanent settlements in the 19th century, maritime trade and cross-border cooperation play a significant role in the economic and social development of the region. Special role in this topic belongs to the seaports, for example Vladivostok. Having a “porto-franco” status before 1917 (when the Russian Empire collapsed) it was very actively developing due to the economic and financial contribution of port facilities to this process. During the Soviet period, maritime infrastructure also played a vital role, contributing to the increase of cargo flows’ volume through the region’s territory.
The history of Primorsky Region shows that the center of its economic development was always and traditionally located in the southern part with the ports Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Vostochny, Slavyanka. In other words, economic efficiency in the region always depended in many ways on the transport complex management level, the use of various innovative techniques and strategies, mechanization of the seaports, optimization of cargo flows.
It should also be noted that the development of regional large cities, primarily Vladivostok and Nakhodka, has always been based on the work of seaports, including coastal berth infrastructure and transport approaches to such facilities. This is precisely what can be considered as a constant component, making traditional influence on the life of the region, its image and perception.

When discussing Primorsky Region’s image potential, we can evaluate with competence its historical origins since the 19th century.

• Maritime transport and ports of the region have always been and remain a “semantic” part of its image, especially in the regional large port cities. Primorsky Region is associated also with non-marine components, such as Amur tiger, taiga, but the main perception is traditionally connected with the sea and maritime infrastructure;
• Historically, it is the seascapes, the marine view of the city, images of sea ships, ports, piers, cranes and similar objects are quite typical for region’s visualization. Photographs and paintings from different historical periods, starting from the 19th century, are a vivid evidence of this;
• A significant role in the region’s brand has always been played by the professional anthroponymic component, associated primarily with maritime professions – sailors, fishermen, port workers. Despite the fact that at present this semantic meaning becomes less distinct, the general meaning is still being preserved;
• Both secondary specialized and higher maritime education, have also traditionally been considered as one of the region’s “visiting cards”, a special feature for its perception as a transit transport corridor of international level where marine specialists of various kinds are trained and prepared.
• Trade with Asia-Pacific countries has historically been another feature of the region’s image. Starting from the first businessmen in the history of Vladivostok, such as Mikhail Yankovsky or Fridolf Huck, during the Soviet period of planned economy and up to the present, the region’s image as a transit and transport point was always associated with cross-border trade, economic cooperation and foreign economic activity.

In general, the region’s key partners in the Asia-Pacific have always been the leading economies of Northeast Asia – China, Japan and South Korea. This is largely reflected in the region’s perception, including its culture – popularity of national cooking, adherence of local population to Japanese cars, the habit of frequent trips to China, etc. [5].

– Ship repair is also traditionally associated with the region’s image perception and is closely connected with the transport complex. In practice, such largest enterprises in the region as “Dalzavod” or the “Bolshoy Kamen ship repair” since the beginning were practically city-forming enterprises and played a vital role in the development of Southern Primorye, where points of economic growth started to be concentrated.

– Multimodal transportation (cargo transportation by several types of transport) is also the important part of the region’s brand. The main transcontinental (Europe-Asia, Asia-Europe) transport corridor across Russia passes through Primorye where the goods are transshipped from the railway to the sea and vice versa. This “transit strategy” today, after proclaiming of Anti-Russian sanctions by the West, is becoming more and more urgent [4].

– Since the second half of the twentieth century, the ports of Primorsky Region traditionally play a major role in the implementation of the so-called “Northern delivery” and the implementation of Arctic projects [1].

Experience from advanced economies

Today, a number of the world’s major seaports, including those in the Asia-Pacific, have an experience in the practice of so-called “smart ports” organization. Russian ports in the Far East also have similar experience and introduce the necessary technologies for this. United within a centralized system, they help to monitor, collect and analyze data, optimize processes, and make prompt decisions. This improves productivity and safety, as well as the environmental friendliness of all production processes in the port. Such technological solutions minimize possible errors due to the human factor [15].

The start of the world seaports “digitalization” can be traced back to 1993, when unmanned vehicles were first used to handle containers in the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands). The installation operated with automated unmanned RMGs (ARMGs) and unmanned guided vehicles (AGVs) for horizontal container transfers from pier to vessel. And today the port of Rotterdam is considered as a leading European port at the forefront of “digital solutions”. The port authorities are implementing a large-scale digital transformation of the port (“smart port in the world”) with the goal to handle by 2025 autonomous connected cargo ships. In other words, we are talking about creation of port’s detailed digital twin, which covers the entire port area with a length of 42 km. It represents an exact digital copy of port operations (up to 100%), tracking up ship movements, infrastructure, weather, geographic data and other relevant parameters.

Among the most indicative technologies are the use of IoT (Internet of Things) sensors, “augmented intelligence” technology and “smart data” (about weather in order to assess availability of piers; aimed to practice various work scenarios or to coordinate the traffic of incoming/outgoing ships and to manage the activity of port teams). There exists the Rotterdam Additive Manufacturing LAB, the world’s first field 3D printing laboratory, which provides a wide range of certified metal parts for ships. There works also a real-time navigation system that allows participants to use personalized navigation, to have information about the port traffic, parking and infrastructure, closure of movable bridges, etc.

In Hamburg (Germany), an “intelligent railway point” system is under active operation. It allows to analyze the busiest points on the port railroad through the installation of sensors. Sensors allow to analyze various data as well as provide information about the condition and wear of the main working intersections and thus to avoid possible downtime. The Port of Tilbury (London) uses an integrated mobile booking system application specifically designed for terminal carriers, which allows them to place orders for accommodation at terminals and check the status of containers remotely, from smartphones. Montreal (Canada) has a Trucking Portal Web application designed to reduce pollution and increase productivity. The application allows you to optimize truck routes, reducing traffic jams at the entrances/exits to terminals.

In Quindao (China) there works a fully automated container terminal. It is controlled by laser scanners and container positioning systems to accurately secure and transfer containers to trucks without a driver. As well, there have been implemented: automated equipment planning, automatic mooring of ships, fully automated delivery of containers, unmanned intelligent gate system, etc. Also China has an Ocean Gate terminal in Xiamen, which can accommodate up to 200 thousand tons of cargo. This is the first fully automated port terminal equipped with 5G.

It is planned that in the near future the registration of foreign ships will also occur automatically, online. Another Chinese “smart” port is located in the city of Shenzhen. This is the fourth most important cargo port in China, as the largest container ships pass through it. They also use a fully automated “smart” platform that works thanks to 5G. In the port of Guangzhou, by 2025 it is planned to create by 2025 a “unified intelligent system” connecting all seaports of the country. Cargo will be delivered using unmanned container ships. The experience of organizing the work of “smart ports” in Southeast Asia is also interesting. Thus, in Singapore and Malaysia, ports use big data for inspection systems, as well as for determining the type and history of imported cargoes’ movement. For example, the IBM Traffic Prediction platform in Singapore helps to predict ships’ arrival time and peak hours of their movement in order to avoid congestion. They also plan to use drones and mobile applications to improve the efficiency of cargo handling and prevent maritime accidents.

The port of Cartagena (Colombia) uses solutions from Cisco and IBM for analytics within the IoT system. This helps to predict equipment failures and carry out maintenance and replacement in a due time.

In general, an analysis of the activities of foreign seaports where digital technologies and artificial intelligence are used allows us to conclude that such technologies provide an abilities for modern large international seaports to achieve following:
– increase the volume and efficiency of goods’ shipment;
– reduce the time the vessel stays at anchor;
– accept more ships daily, thereby increase the capacity of both individual berths and terminals, and ports as a whole;
– reduce the load on transport routes;
– increase the throughput capacity (without expanding the areas);
– optimize staff performance;

– track the location and condition of cargo [9].

Russian experience
In the Russian Federation, the issues of competitiveness and increasing the seaports’ efficiency, including increase of their innovation with the use of new technologies are very urgent today.
Thus, according to industry press, the following “shells” are used in Russian seaports [15]:

1. Electronic document management (for example, in “Rosterminalugol”, NUTEP, “First Container Terminal”, “Petrolesport”, “Novoroslesexport”, “Vladivostok Sea Trade Port”, etc.). Paperless technology simplifies and/or speeds up the port interaction with other subjects of “transport space”, while reducing downtime; reduces costs by eliminating paper media, transferring the full chain of documents into electronic format, etc.
2. The concept of “lean production” (“lean-management”) (for example, in “Rosterminalugol”). It includes the optimization of processes by identifying and eliminating “hidden losses”, providing management infrastructure, changing the employee’s way of thinking, All this adds up to increased port efficiency.
3. Operational management system in the work of container terminals (for example, in “NUTEP” , “Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port”, “Vladivostok Container Terminal”, “First Container Terminal”, “Ust-Luga Container Terminal”, etc. .). It is designed to manage personnel and equipment at a container terminal in real time in order to increase the efficiency of container handling.
4. Automated control systems in the work of the seaport and railroad (for example, “Rosterminalugol”, “Vostochny Port”, etc.). Allow you to supply, unload, and send wagons to the terminal automatically.
5. Automated systems for interaction between seaports and federal authorities (for example, “Sea Port Portal”). A system operating on the basis and mechanisms of the “single window”. It ensures electronic interaction of participants in the process of clearance of goods and vehicles at sea checkpoints. The final purpose is to create favorable conditions for accelerating trade turnover across the customs border of the Eurasian Economic Union, reduce time necessary for customs operations, increase the efficiency of customs control.
6. Vessel servicing system “Digital Port” (joint development of “Infotek Baltika” and “ICONIC”). The system is based on the technology of accounting registers and certification of rights, which makes possible to transfer the document management into electronic form. Thereby, the interested participants may decrease the workloads in the period of port activities, including such moments as duties of port agents; vessel’s handling time; controversial issues between participants, etc.
7. Systems for interaction with information systems of sea vessels and with trade web-portals based on the “one window” principle (terminals in Ust-Luga and Nakhodka).
8. Specialized systems, such as security systems; container, vehicle and railway platform number recognition systems, etc.

Thus, in Russian seaports we can see mainly only single information technologies and/or automated systems. Complex digital transformations still are not practically used. The main reasons are: inconsistency of regulations, the need to replace the import of digital technologies.
In the autumn of 2021, the company NtechLab (developer of solutions in the field of video analytics) presented a project to equip the Vladivostok commercial seaport with video analytics and various objects’ recognition systems, meaning people, objects, transport vehicles, etc. The next step is the integration of these systems with monitoring of transport and labor safety and a unified biometric database. This is the first “smart” port project in Russia: up to now similar developments are being used at industrial enterprises and airports. The project is currently at the “roadmap” (graphic or text schedule of work on a project) development stage.

Urgent challenges for Primorsky Region

The modern development of Primorsky Region and its economic model are concentrated around several main vectors.

Historically, the region’s logistics complex has always played a significant role, so the attention to its development is a fairly logical step. In 2012, the APEC summit was held in Vladivostok, after which everybody expected the development of Russia’s cooperation with the leading Asia-Pacific economies. In 2014, the Russian policy of “Eastern Vector”, or “Turn to the East” was proclaimed [10]. These trends have been strengthened after the beginning of Russian military operation on Ukraine in 2022 and the introduction of massive Western

anti-Russian sanctions, which led to reorientation of usual cargo flows within Russia from the western to the eastern direction.

Thus, summing up all the above trends, we can talk about two emerged priorities for the development of the Far Eastern and Primorsky Region’s economy. This is the attraction of foreign (mainly Asian) investments and the development of processing and mining industries, on the one hand, and the development of transit logistics corridors in the East-West direction, on the other hand. As for Primorsky Region, the strategy of “Eastern vector” and transit logistics corridors is being significantly strengthened due to the fact that in Primorye the main Russian Pacific ice-free deep-water seaports (Vladivostok, Nakhodka) are located [16].

Thus, the development of regional logistics potential in modern conditions is a priority task for Primorsky Region, which has been repeatedly noted also at the official level [7]. At the same time, it is obvious that the development of transport, transit and spatial logistics is not aт isolated task, apart from other economic sectors, but directly affects them. This is, first of all, construction, trade, spatial development of the territory [8].

In modern conditions, the development of international transit logistics brand for Primorsky Region is possible only if the transport and logistics complex declares itself as modern and competitive sector of the economy.

The modern transport complex of the region is characterized by a number of problems of an institutional and resource nature, the solution of which may be optimally achieved through the use of high technologies, IT (Information Technology) solutions and artificial intelligence. Among the problems that complicate the development of transport complex and include image risks for the entire region are the following:

– Poor development of ground infrastructure on the line “railway-regional seaports”. Problems with due processing and transhipment of cargo periodically occur because of insufficient railway capacity at the “Eastern polygon” (in Russia “Eastern polygon” is a railway net within geographical boundaries of the Siberia and the Russian Far East), especially in conditions of sharp cargo traffic and transshipment increase in a number of regional ports [6];

– Insufficient railway capacity connected with some seaports in the region, for example, in Nakhodka. That also reduces the

productivity of the entire regional transport system and makes a problem out of prospects to increase the volume of transit cargo handling;

– During cargo handling the degree of mechanization is not always high, especially in the small ports, which is also important for the development of the entire transport complex;

– Working with a range of goods that pose a potential danger to the environment and ecology, primarily coal. In this field, constant monitoring of current situation and efforts for compliance with environmental requirements are necessary;

– Problems of dispatching and quality of general cargo handling in the ports of the region, especially in conditions of significant increase in cargo traffic in certain periods. A vivid example is the situation in 2021. Due to a sharp increase in the volume of transit cargo to the Asia-Pacific and the cargo for the Russian Northern Territories through the ports of the region after the lifting of anti- pandemics restrictions, there happened cargo traffic jams and cargo processing delays at the ports [11].

(End of introductory fragment)