Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman and newly appointed CEO of DP World recently spoke at the World Government Summit in Dubai on 'The Future of Smart Trade', in which he discussed the possibility of smart cargo transport such as drones coming into commercial operation in the future to deliver goods directly to the customer, according to Emirates24|7.
Bin Sulayem said: “People ask ‘why are Dubai Ports and Customs at a World Government Summit?’ We are interested in such a summit. DP World has partnerships with many governments. That is our interest. We enable trade.
“And the future of trade is smart trade. We move cargo faster and with more efficiency by using cutting-edge technology.
Technical Paper: DP World's T3 Container Terminal at Jebel Ali
“To achieve this, government planning is very important; interaction with governments is crucial for business.
“The UAE has the thirtieth highest Gross Domestic Product in the world today at US$400 billion annually.
“In year 2000, it was the decade of electronic government. When His Highness announced electronic government, many didn't know what he meant. Now, 2010 became the smart government.
“We are working 24|7. As an entity, we process 19 million documents annually, across customs, free-zones, airports. That's more than 1.5 million documents every month, 50,000 every day. It would be impossible to process this without adapting cutting-edge technology.”
Technical Paper: DP World's T4 Container Terminal at Jebel Ali
According to Gulf Digital News, it is the technologies such as drones and hyperloop cargo transport that could have an impact on major ports such as Jebel Ali as cargo handlers begin to adopt smarter technologies to reach their customers on an end-to-end basis.
Bin Sulayem continues: “Today people talk drone cargo transport; maybe we won't need sea ports. Cargo will go to end-user without ports, some say.”
The DP World Chairman said that the technologies that would encompass the future of trade include robotics and automation, autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Things and big data, and simulation.
Bin Sulayem concluded: “No matter what the future, we will be ready for it in Dubai and DP World.”
