The Maritime Port Bureau has this year hosted the first competition on applied creative solutions for issues such as carbon emissions, harbor traffic control, human resource issues in the maritime transportation industry and government policies for national maritime carriers.
The event followed the release of archival data by the bureau.
It released the archives and held the competition to see how other groups would make use of the data, Bureau Deputy Director-General Chen Pin-chuan (陳賓權) said.
Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
The innovative plans proposed by the participants have injected new life into the maritime industry, Chen said.
The competition was separated into two divisions — working professionals and students — and attracted 41 teams, Chen said.
The cash awards for the top three winners were NT$80,000, NT$30,000 and NT$10,000.
The first prize winner in the professional category proposed advanced applications for harbor data, the runner-up proposed methods to develop potential routes and markets based on the import and export data, and the third-placed team proposed ways to promote the trade of sundry goods based on cross-strait maritime transport data, Chen said.
The top three winners among the student teams addressed carbon emissions by integrating information systems with real-time port monitoring services; offered a time series analysis of how ports were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; and examined how port congestion worldwide is affecting Taiwan’s maritime transport industry.
The ROC National Association of Shipping Agencies secretary-general Pao Chia-yuan (包嘉源) said that while the participants in the professional category all came from the maritime sector, it was interesting to see how the students handled the issues.
Most of the results turned in by the students were nearly ready to use in the industry, Pao said.
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