AI-Driven Smart Ports and the Competitiveness of Hong Kong as a Greater Bay Area Logistics Hub: A Public-Data, Multi-Case Operational Comparison
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/rep3sc02Keywords:
Smart port, port competitiveness, container terminal automation, Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong.Abstract
Smart-port technologies, such as terminal automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital data-sharing, have been promoted in an effort to enhance the international competitiveness of container ports, but their application in practice to improve actual performance in the rapidly changing regional cluster has yet to be fully demonstrated. Hong Kong is a typical case: by 2024, its container throughput had fallen to a 28-year low of about 13.7 million TEU, and it had slipped out of the top ten world ports amid the rapid automation of the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Competitiveness is divided into three publicly observable attributes: operating efficiency, network connectivity and smart-port maturity. Hong Kong is then benchmarked against GBA counterparts (Shenzhen, Guangzhou) and world-class automated terminal operators (Singapore, Shanghai, Rotterdam, Qingdao) using public indices and operator and government data. Automation maturity does not correlate with operating efficiency; for example, only the semi-automated port of Hong Kong achieved the top rank in 2025 for efficiency, and many fully automated ports ranked considerably lower. AI and automation are best viewed as enabling conditions rather than the direct drivers of competitiveness, and Hong Kong's relative decline is mainly due to structural and connectivity factors.
Downloads
References
[1] B. Belmoukari, J.-F. Audy, P. Forget. Smart port: a systematic literature review. European Transport Research Review, 2023, 15(1): 4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12544-023-00588-z
[2] F. Parola, M. Risitano, M. Ferretti, E. Panetti. The drivers of port competitiveness: a critical review. Transport Reviews, 2017, 37(1): 116-138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2016.1231232
[3] Y. Fu, Q. Lin, M. Grifoll, J.S.L. Lam, H. Feng. Investigating the evolution of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) multi-port system: The multi-faced perspectives. Ocean & Coastal Management, 2023, 233: 106450. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2022.106450
[4] Hong Kong Maritime and Port Development Board. Container Throughputs of Hong Kong Port and Kwai Tsing Container Terminals (Monthly). Hong Kong SAR Government. https://www.hkmpdb.gov.hk/en/statistics.html (accessed 21 June 2026).
[5] Y. Boullauazan, C. Sys, T. Vanelslander. Developing and demonstrating a maturity model for smart ports. Maritime Policy & Management, 2023, 50(4): 447-465. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2022.2074161
[6] International Transport Forum. Container Port Automation: Impacts and Implications. ITF Policy Papers No. 96, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2021.
[7] G. Knatz, T. Notteboom, A.A. Pallis. Container terminal automation: revealing distinctive terminal characteristics and operating parameters. Maritime Economics & Logistics, 2022, 24(3): 537-565. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41278-022-00240-y
[8] A. Molavi, G.J. Lim, B. Race. A framework for building a smart port and smart port index. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 2020, 14(9): 686-700. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15568318.2019.1610919
[9] K. Cullinane, T.-F. Wang, D.-W. Song, P. Ji. The technical efficiency of container ports: Comparing data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2006, 40(4): 354-374. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2005.07.003
[10] G.-T. Yeo, M. Roe, J. Dinwoodie. Evaluating the competitiveness of container ports in Korea and China. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2008, 42(6): 910-921. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2008.01.014
[11] Z. Liu, D. Yang, Y.N.E. Ng. A competitive analysis of port of Hong Kong: from external to internal. Journal of Shipping and Trade, 2020, 5: 7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41072-020-00062-2
[12] S. Liu, S.-H. Park, Y.-S. Choi, G.-T. Yeo. Efficiency evaluation of major container terminals in the top three cities of the Pearl River Delta using SBM-DEA and undesirable DEA. The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics, 2022, 38(2): 99-106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajsl.2022.03.001
[13] L.G. Tornatzky, M. Fleischer, A.K. Chakrabarti. The Processes of Technological Innovation. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA, 1990.
[14] World Bank, S&P Global Market Intelligence. The Container Port Performance Index 2025: A Comparable Assessment of Performance Based on Vessel Time in Port. World Bank, Washington DC, 2026. DOI 10.1596/45008.
[15] UNCTAD. Review of Maritime Transport 2024: Navigating Maritime Chokepoints. United Nations, Geneva, 2024.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Highlights in Business, Economics and Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
