On November 30th, 2023, the Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macao Maritime Science and Technology Collaborative Development Forum was held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, with the theme of "Grasping the General Trend of Science and Technology Development and Promoting Collaborative Innovation Cooperation". Cao Di, Supervisor of China Maritime Society, Tian Wenguo, Chairman of Taiwan China Maritime Technology Research Association, Zhang Shitian, Chairman of Hong Kong Seafarers' Union, and Wang Houjie, Vice President of Jimei University attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Yang Shenhua, Dean of Jimei University Maritime College presided over the opening ceremony.
Yang Shenhua, Dean of School of Navigation, Jimei University
This forum is supported by Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Office of China Association for Science and Technology, co-sponsored by China Institute of Navigation, Taiwan China Navigation Technology Research Association, Taiwan China Strait Business Association, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Seafarers Union and Macao University of Science and Technology, co-hosted by Jimei University, Wuhan University of Technology and Fujian Navigation Society, and co-organized by Xiamen Science and Technology Association and Taiwan Ship Mechanical Engineering Society.
Build a high-level exchange and cooperation platform to stimulate high-quality development potential
Cao Di, Supervisor of CIN
Cao Di said in his speech that the shipping industry is an important foundation for supporting China's economic and social development and an important force for promoting world economic development. It is a common task for the shipping industry to adapt to the new trend of scientific and technological development, realize the deep integration of shipping elements and modern science and technology, and help build a shipping power and a transportation power with scientific and technological development. It is necessary to give full play to the platform role of this forum, promote the shipping industry across the Taiwan Straits, Hong Kong and Macao to grasp the general trend of scientific and technological development, build a highland for innovative development of intelligent shipping and green shipping, create a strong engine for high-quality development, seek multi-level, all-round and wide-ranging collaborative innovation and cooperation, better promote the innovation of navigation science and technology across the Taiwan Straits and the high-quality integration of port and shipping industry, and create a development pattern of information exchange, resource sharing, coordination and tolerance, and win-win cooperation.
Tian Wenguo, Chairman of Taiwan China Navigation Technology Research Association
Tian Wenguo said that the era of maritime science and technology fighting alone has ended, and various research institutions can take advantage of the opportunity provided by the Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macao Maritime Science and Technology Collaborative Development Forum in 2023, give full play to their respective expertise, improve their professional and technical level, and conduct exchanges with experts and scholars from four places across the Taiwan Straits in the fields of shipping science and technology development, maritime accident liability identification and maritime damage control technology, so as to meet the needs of scientific and technological cooperation and promote the sharing and integration of maritime science and technology development.
Zhang Shitian, Chairman of Hong Kong Seafarers' Union
Zhang Shitian said that the Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macao Maritime Science and Technology Collaborative Development Forum provided a platform for maritime science and technology workers. It is hoped that through the cross-strait exchange platform, we will discuss the integration and cooperation in the field of port and shipping industry science and technology, jointly promote the development of navigation science and technology, and serve the national shipping power strategy and the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.
Wang Houjie, Vice President of Jimei University
Wang Houjie said that the convening of this forum will encourage young scientific and technological workers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao to integrate into the employment and entrepreneurship of shipping enterprises and institutions in the Mainland, open up a "fast track" for the youth groups in the shipping industry on both sides of the Taiwan Straits to grow into talents, and inject blue power to support Hong Kong and Macao to better integrate into the overall situation of national development.
Promote the coordinated development of maritime science and technology innovation across the Taiwan Straits
Liu Chunjiang, Vice President of Wuhan University of Technology
At the opening ceremony of the forum, Liu Chunjiang, Vice President of Wuhan University of Technology, issued the "Initiative on Promoting the Coordinated Development of Maritime Science and Technology across the Taiwan Straits, Hong Kong and Macao" on behalf of the organizers and co-organizers, calling on port and shipping enterprises, scientific research institutions and universities in mainland China, Taiwan Province, Hong Kong and Macao to conduct normal dialogues and exchanges, and jointly build a cooperation platform to promote scientific and technological innovation and high-quality development of the industry.
First, from respective exploration to high-quality coordinated development. The great potential of scientific and technological innovation cooperation in port and shipping industry is reconstructing the international shipping division of labor. In order to adapt to the new industry development trend, while insisting on independent innovation, the R&D mode of relevant units across the Taiwan Straits and four places needs to be changed from their own exploration to coordinated development, participating in international scientific and technological innovation cooperation, integrating into global innovation chain and utilizing global innovation resources, so as to achieve the goals of reducing innovation costs and risks and improving the efficiency and level of scientific and technological innovation. At the same time, we should deepen cooperation in basic and standardized technology research and promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial development. Through scientific and technological innovation cooperation, we will deepen the coordination among all sectors of global shipping and form overall advantages, including shipping, port, logistics, repair, fuel supply, agency, training, etc., so as to realize resource sharing and interconnection, and help the four places on both sides of the Taiwan Straits to practice innovation drive and change the growth mode.
Second, scientific and technological innovation will empower shipping development with new impetus. A new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is advancing in depth, and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum information, Internet of Things, blockchain, new energy and new materials are being rapidly applied and broken through. In the future, we still have to rely on the support of science and technology to inject new impetus. We need to promote the digital reform and upgrading of the port and shipping industry, and provide digital support through cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things and other technologies to achieve more refined operations. In the future, all relevant units across the Taiwan Straits and four places should cooperate more closely, give full play to the advantages of the big market, accelerate the transformation of achievements, and strive to occupy a leading position in the green shipping and intelligent shipping markets.
Thirdly, we will vigorously promote green, low-carbon and intelligent development.
Achieving the goal of carbon neutrality is the environmental responsibility of port and shipping enterprises to practice protection in development and development in protection; intelligent development and digital transformation are important initiatives for the industry to improve its competitiveness and adapt to market changes. All relevant units should promote the green and low-carbon transformation and upgrading of shipping; make multiple efforts including improving low-carbon fuel technology optimization, new energy substitution technology, ship optimization, decelerated sailing, power technology upgrading and transformation to inject green vitality into traditional port and shipping industries; reduce carbon emission and its impact on the environment; step up efforts to the research and development of the core and key technologies related to intelligent shipping and related products and equipment; vigorously develop smart ports, waterways and ships; continuously shape new momentum and new advantages in shipping development, and jointly promoting the green, low-carbon, and intelligent development of the port and shipping industry in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Fourth, to build a platform for high-level exchanges among Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Through this forum, we will discuss the integration and cooperation among the four places in the field of science and technology in the port and shipping industry promote high-level scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation among the four places, and jointly promote the transformation of excellent maritime scientific and technological achievements into a strong impetus for industrial development. We will encourage all relevant units from the four places to share their own practices and success stories, including actual experiences in various fields such as port management, shipping management, ship repair, cargo handling, logistics synergy, crew management training, etc.; accelerate the transfer of information and cooperation through the platform of the Forum, and help more ports and shipping enterprises to benefit from the successful experiences. All relevant units of the industry will further deepen the theme, enrich the content, innovate the form, display the results, and strive to enhance the organizational cohesion, academic leadership and international influence of the Forum, so as to create a high-level platform for exchange and cooperation in maritime science and technology.
Discussing and exploring new trends in maritime scientific and technological development
Experts from the four places were invited to deliver speeches on how to grasp the development trend of marine science and technology and promote collaborative innovation and cooperation.
Hu Ya'an, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, chief engineer of the Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute of the Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Transport and National Energy Administration.
Academician Hu Ya'an made a report titled "Key Technology for Smooth Extension and Capacity Enhancement of Inland Waterways". He introduced the development planning and construction requirements of inland high-grade waterways, technical characteristics and research tasks and the latest research results of green and intelligent development of inland water transportation, and put forward suggestions on the future development direction.
Lv Fang-Yi, Vice President of Chinese Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (Taiwan)
Fangyi Lu made a presentation entitled "Recent Developments in Alternative Marine Fuels". She was of the view that alternative fuels would play an increasingly important role with the booming global shipping market and technological replacement. Currently, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is still the most popular alternative fuel, and methanol fuel has a certain growing trend.
Liu Zhengjiang, Former Vice President of Dalian Maritime University
Liu Zhengjiang's report was entitled "The Impact of Ship Autonomy on Nautical Education". He said that nautical education institutions should take early, positive and proactive measures to respond to the arrival of the era of autonomous ships, keep abreast of the industry's cutting-edge dynamics and future development trends of the development of autonomous ships, study, predict and determine the direction of the development of the shipping industry in the context of the autonomy of the development of the development of the tempo and professional needs, and adjust the layout of the professional and personnel training programs.
Xue Jinhui, Xue Jinhui, General Manager of the Digital Management Department of China Merchants Energy Transportation Co., Ltd
Xue Jinhui made a report entitled "Digital Synergy, Building a New Future for Shipping Development". He said that digitalization, greening and integration are not only the future trend of the shipping and trading industry, but also our present action; we should seize the opportunity, closely collaborate and strengthen cooperation to promote the shipping industry to achieve high-quality development and build a new future of sustainable development of shipping.
Gao Yuling, Deputy Director of the Shipping Technology and Safety Business Department of Shanghai Shipping & Transportation Scientific Research Institute Co., Ltd. under China Cosco Shipping Corporation Limited
Gao Yuling made a report titled "Science and Technology Innovation to Boost Green Transformation and Development of Shipping". She said that science and technology innovation should be used to promote the development of green shipping and intelligent shipping.
Fu Guotang, Manager of the Marine Technology Department at Evergreen Marine Corporation.
Fu Guotang made a report titled "Trends in the Development of Autonomous Ships in the Shipping Industry", he combined the latest progress of domestic and international research to make the report and put forward the outlook for the future development.
Prof. Law Mui-fung, Department of Logistics and Shipping, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Luo Meifeng made a report entitled “Empirical Research on Location Decision Making in Shipping Service Industry”. He believed that the formation and development of high-end shipping service industry relies on the prosperous development of ports. For traditional port cities, how to continue to maintain the development of high-end shipping service industry is of great significance to the economic development of the region.
Li Xin, Head of Department of Decision Sciences, Faculty of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST)
Li Xin's speech was titled "Port Development and Technological Innovation in the Era of Cross-border E-commerce Logistics". According to him, smart ports will enhance the transportation capacity of ports in the direction of continuously improving transportation efficiency. Digital technology realizes efficient connection between ports and cargo owners, ports and inter-port, ports and shipping companies, ports and government departments and other institutions, and the port service situation and logistics supply chain situation will be more predictable.
Participating experts and representatives also visited Xiamen International Shipping Science and Technology Innovation Center and had extensive and in-depth discussions on the needs of cooperation in maritime science and technology among the four places.
