The global supply chain is currently facing dual pressures from rapid digital technology transformation and international carbon reduction regulations. The urgency of Taiwan's port and shipping industry transformation cannot be overstated. To assist Taiwan's container shipping industry in precisely aligning with international trends, the Digital Transformation Research Institute of the Institute for Information Industry (III Digital Transformation Institute) and the Institute of Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation jointly held a "Container Shipping Dual-Axis Transformation Plan Focus Group Seminar" on the afternoon of June 16th. The seminar brought together representatives from industry, government, academia, and research institutions to collectively identify industry pain points. Industry experts at the meeting noted that since each relevant stakeholder faces different transformation challenges, only by focusing on specific needs, connecting available resources, and helping participating businesses identify the right entry point could one take the first step in their transformation journey.
The seminar convened representatives from the Port and Harbor Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation, Taiwan Port Corporation, and various container shipping businesses undergoing digital transformation, along with academic experts. Participants discussed practical challenges across multiple areas, including digital system implementation, data management mechanisms, energy efficiency and carbon reduction initiatives, compliance with international sustainability standards, and professional talent development. The insights gathered will inform the development of future policy tools and industry support measures.
Through multi-stakeholder exchanges at the "Container Shipping Dual-Axis Transformation Plan Focus Group Seminar," Chung-Hsiang Liu, Deputy Director of the Sustainable Transportation Technology Center at III's Digital Transformation Research Institute, emphasized that the key to the industry's transformation lies in clearly understanding where each business stands in its transformation journey and setting the right direction before planning the next steps. Liu recommended that companies first conduct self-assessments using evaluation tools to identify current status and gaps across the digital and sustainability dimensions. Businesses should then sequentially implement digitalization, intelligence, and AI solutions while simultaneously developing workforce capabilities. This approach ensures tool deployment and organizational capacity reinforce each other, enabling sustained deepening of transformation results. Companies of varying sizes can advance at their own pace based on their specific conditions, preventing transformation from becoming mere rhetoric or creating undue burden.
III has long been devoted to industrial digital transformation and collaborated with the Institute of Transportation, MOTC since 2022 to help the port and harbor industry establish digital development roadmaps, assessment tools, and industry guidelines. Starting in 2025, III has intensified its focus on "Digital × Sustainability" dual-axis transformation, spanning policy collaboration, talent development, data governance, and ground-level validation, while developing action plans that more closely align with industry realities.
To better understand industry needs and practical implementation directions, the series of focus group seminars brought together benchmark companies with proven transformation experience to share their digitalization and decarbonization initiatives. Equally important, the seminars targeted SMEs and various container shipping businesses in early-stage transformation to identify specific gaps in resources, personnel, technology, and institutional support. By bridging government policies and resources with industry practical needs, III aims to help Taiwan's container shipping industry seize opportunities amid global digitalization and net-zero trends, ultimately strengthening international competitiveness and sustainable development capacity.