Artificial Intelligence and Innovative Practices in Transportation | Four Ministries Jointly Issue the “Smart Shipping 2030 Action Plan” to Help China’s Shipping Industry Shift from “Keeping Pace” to “Taking the Lead”

　　To thoroughly implement the "Opinions of the State Council on Deeply Implementing the 'Artificial Intelligence+' Action," accelerate the deep integration of frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence with the shipping industry, and cultivate and strengthen new productive forces in shipping, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and the State Administration for Market Regulation recently jointly issued the "Smart Shipping 2030 Action Plan" (referred to as the "Action Plan"). The plan clarifies the overall requirements, key tasks, and safeguard measures for smart shipping development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, marking a new stage of systematic advancement in China's smart shipping development.

　　The issuance of the "Action Plan" not only provides a systematic solution to the bottleneck problems restricting the development of smart shipping in China but also injects strong momentum and lays a solid foundation for achieving the goal of building a transportation powerhouse by 2035 and enabling China's shipping industry to transition from "running alongside" to "leading" in the global wave of intelligentization.

　　Seizing Strategic Opportunities

　　Planning Layout Based on Three Key Principles

　　President Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out, "Artificial intelligence is a strategic technology leading this round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, with a strong 'leading goose' effect of spillover and driving force." "We must vigorously develop smart transportation and smart logistics, promote the deep integration of new technologies such as big data, the internet, artificial intelligence, and blockchain with the transportation industry, enabling people to enjoy their travels and goods to flow smoothly." "We must adapt to the new trends of green, low-carbon, and intelligent shipping industry development and promote the healthy development of international shipping." These insights provide fundamental guidance and action plans for the high-quality development of smart shipping in China.

　　Currently, new-generation artificial intelligence technologies are evolving rapidly. Technologies such as multimodal large models, embodied intelligence, and collective intelligence bring significant opportunities for the leapfrog development of smart shipping. Artificial intelligence is driving the shipping industry to transition from "experience-driven" to "data-intelligence-driven" paradigms. At the same time, in the process of deep integration between artificial intelligence and smart shipping, there are still many issues and challenges in areas such as technological innovation, industrial development, application empowerment, and regulatory governance. To address the bottleneck problems restricting the development of smart shipping, promote the healthy and orderly development of smart shipping in China, further improve the system design of smart shipping, and strengthen the coordination of relevant departments, the Ministry of Transport, together with three other departments, organized the drafting of the "Action Plan," proposing guiding principles, action goals, main tasks, and safeguard measures for smart shipping development over the next five years.

　　The drafting of the "Action Plan" focused on three key aspects. First, raising political awareness and thoroughly studying and implementing President Xi Jinping's important instructions on developing smart transportation and smart logistics, as well as adapting to the new trends of green, low-carbon, and intelligent shipping industry development. Second, strengthening policy coordination, strictly implementing the requirements related to smart shipping in the "Outline for Building a Transportation Powerhouse" and the "National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline," systematically advancing the coordination with the relevant deployments in the "Opinions of the State Council on Deeply Implementing the 'Artificial Intelligence+' Action," and forming an overall pattern of policy synergy. Third, emphasizing practicality and effectiveness, adhering to demand-oriented and result-oriented approaches, focusing on key areas, deploying application pilot empowerment actions from the perspective of scenario application traction, cultivating a batch of smart shipping vessels (fleets), pilot routes, and comprehensive pilot regions, forming replicable and promotable development models, and promoting high-quality development of smart shipping.

　　Focusing on Four Major Dimensions

　　Deploying Key Tasks to Build a Complete System

　　According to the Ministry of Transport, the "Action Plan" adheres to the principles of safety and controllability, categorized measures, and emphasis on effectiveness. Using technological innovation and industrial innovation as pathways and scenario applications as traction, it clarifies two-stage development goals. By 2027, artificial intelligence and shipping elements should achieve deep integration, breakthroughs in core key technologies, the establishment of more than three comprehensive pilot regions for smart shipping, the opening of more than five pilot routes for smart shipping, the creation of more than ten promotable typical smart shipping scenarios, and the operation of over 100 smart vessels. By 2030, core key technologies should be fully mastered, forming a new model of coordinated development in technology, industry, and governance, with smart shipping development reaching an internationally advanced level, providing solid support for the goal of building a transportation powerhouse by 2035.

　　To achieve the above goals, the "Action Plan" systematically deploys 11 key tasks across four major dimensions: technological equipment breakthroughs, application pilot empowerment, infrastructure enhancement, and regulatory governance improvement, aiming to build a smart shipping development system covering the innovation chain, industrial chain, and value chain, and advancing China's smart shipping towards a new stage of system integration and large-scale application.

　　In terms of technological equipment breakthroughs, efforts are concentrated on four core areas: common technologies for smart shipping, technologies and equipment for smart vessels, intelligent technologies and equipment for ports and waterways, and intelligent technologies and equipment for maritime safety assurance.

　　In terms of application pilot empowerment, two core tasks are deployed: promoting the application of mature technologies and advancing comprehensive pilot projects involving multiple elements. The aim is to address the unclear application paths of the smart shipping industry through pilot demonstrations, accelerate the iterative upgrading of technologies and equipment in practice, and achieve an overall leap from application scenarios to industrial ecosystems.

　　In terms of infrastructure enhancement, efforts focus on three core areas: communication and navigation facilities, operational service facilities, and rapid testing and verification capability construction. By increasing investment and construction efforts, the infrastructure shortcomings in smart shipping development are addressed, laying a solid foundation for technology verification and comprehensive application.

　　In terms of regulatory governance improvement, efforts focus on two core tasks: building a regulatory governance system and enhancing regulatory governance capabilities. By improving laws and standards and innovating regulatory models, strong guarantees are provided for the development of smart shipping, ensuring its safety, controllability, efficiency, and orderliness.

　　The "Action Plan" states that by 2030, China will fully master the core key technologies of smart shipping, possess the capability to supply systematic equipment, have a more complete policy and standard system, significantly improve the level of public infrastructure and supporting capabilities for smart shipping, and significantly enhance the capacity of the talent pool. This will promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence technology with shipping elements, form a new model of coordinated development in technology, industry, and governance, achieve an overall leap from application scenarios to industrial ecosystems, and elevate smart shipping development to an internationally leading level.

　　Strengthening Collaborative Guarantees

　　Gathering Forces to Promote Implementation and Effectiveness

　　To ensure the steady advancement of the tasks in the "Action Plan" and the timely achievement of its goals, relevant departments have clarified systematic implementation arrangements and safeguard measures, forming a strong synergy to promote the development of smart shipping through multi-party collaboration and resource aggregation.

　　First, establishing a cross-departmental and cross-regional coordination mechanism for smart shipping development to strengthen collaborative linkage between ministries, provinces, and between government and enterprises, breaking communication barriers and building consensus. Second, enhancing the overall coordination of resources, increasing funding and policy support, leveraging national science and technology projects and special funds to guide the development of smart shipping and smart vessels; intensifying efforts to organize standardization work related to smart shipping and smart vessels; strengthening the construction of talent teams for smart shipping; enhancing the linkage between smart shipping development and policies related to the construction of new energy vessels, guiding social capital to jointly support the development of smart shipping, and forming a policy synergy for smart shipping development.

　　Next, relevant departments will implement a series of measures, such as organizing the construction of high-quality development pilot projects for smart shipping as part of the transportation powerhouse initiative, fully ensuring the implementation of key tasks in smart shipping, and ensuring that development goals at each stage are achieved on schedule. With persistent efforts, they will continue to enhance the quality and efficiency of China's smart shipping industry, advancing towards an internationally advanced level and injecting strong momentum into accelerating the construction of a transportation powerhouse and a maritime powerhouse.