North Bund Forum in Shanghai highlights digitalization of int’l shipping, aviation industries

Representatives from leading global maritime and aviation enterprises gathered at an annual event held in Shanghai, to discuss the green transformation and digitalization of the shipping and aviation sectors, as well as the way to address uncertainties for the industry's future development.

Opened in Shanghai on Tuesday, the three-day 2024 North Bond Forum sought to lay out the future plans for the shipping and aviation industries, centering on the theme of "Digital, Smart, and Green: Co-creating a New Ecosystem of Global Shipping and Aviation".

During the event, two parallel forums were held on international shipping and aviation, where participants discussed topics including how to cope with uncertainties through high-quality development in the shipping industry and the digital transformation of the civil aviation industry.

The Ministry of Transport said that China's shipping industry is stepping up its digital, intelligent and green transformation. So far, China has 49 completed automated terminals, with 44 others under construction. The application scale, operating efficiency and technical level of these terminals are among the best in the world.

The proportion of container trucks powered by new energy and clean energy in 11 international hub ports has exceeded 60 percent.

Participants said that the development of the shipping industry has entered a period where strategic opportunities, risks and challenges coexist, and uncertain and unpredictable factors increase.

"To cope with uncertainties, we in the shipping industry should not only analyze the trends and risks of the macro environment, but also take proactive actions to make changes. We have to give full play to the certainty of our own high-quality development, to cope with external uncertainties, ensure the stability of the global supply chain and become a certainty factor in global economy and trade," said Wan Min, chairman of the board of China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited.

Similarly, the civil aviation industry is also at the intersection of digital transformation.

At the parallel forum for international aviation, the Shanghai Airport Authority released the results of "Shanghai airport brain -- multimodal decision-making intelligent agent". Based on a "smart brain", it can provide effective support for airport operation management and emergency response, such as aircraft path prediction, terminal passenger density identification and monitoring and unclaimed baggage identification, through data analysis and prediction, resource optimization scheduling and identification of potential risk. It can further improve safety, efficiency and passenger experience.

Meanwhile, a safety operation management manual for China's domestically produced C919 jetliner was released at the forum, which is the operation specifications, processes and standards for the C919.

North Bund Forum in Shanghai highlights digitalization of int’l shipping, aviation industries

Poland's business operators are struggling to stay afloat, with soaring energy prices and a challenging market situation pushing them to the edge of bankruptcy after the European Union (EU) and the United States imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Russia.

Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Poland has been in a state of high inflation, with average inflation rates of 14.4 percent and 11.4 percent in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Although the figure fell back to around 5 percent in 2024, high prices are seriously affecting business operators and local residents.

Pitol's bakery in Wroclaw, Poland, is facing its toughest challenge so far, with the owner expressing deep concern about the business's future.

"It is getting harder and harder. Many bakeries have closed down because it is hard for them to make money. Natural gas is getting more expensive, electricity is getting more expensive, and costs are rising. Therefore, the profit margins for us manufacturers are getting smaller and smaller," he said.

To keep costs down, Pitol has decided to stick with the old gas oven, rather than investing in a new, more efficient baking oven.

Before the Russia-Ukraine conflict, 45 percent of Poland's natural gas demand came from imports from Russia, but as the EU imposed energy sanctions on Russia, the price of natural gas in Poland has skyrocketed.

"Russian gas used to be cheap, and gas prices used to be quite stable. We paid an average of 6,000 zlotys (about 1,459 U.S. dollars) a month. Now the monthly bills are so high that we can't plan anything for the future. We pay twice as much as before, and when the price increase was the worst, we paid four times as much," said Pitol.

Jakub Rybacki, head of the macroeconomics team at the Polish Economic Institute said that after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Poland's energy prices soared by an average of about 20 percent, which seriously affected the country's economic development.

"Definitely, the energy crisis that shock Europe is still visible, the energy prices are high here, it’s hard to expect the price to drop. Right now, we are changing the mix of our energy resources, being less dependent on imports, for example, natural gas from Russia. This of course has its costs, like it is probably more expensive, but I think right now, it is hard to imagine any other options," he said.

According to a survey report by the Polish Economic Institute, 59 percent of companies complained that high electricity prices hindered their development, and in the industrial sector, this proportion even reached 67 percent.

"Definitely, this energy crisis is shifting the supply chain of energy commodities, affecting the overall cost for companies. I think it will be very bright in the coming years, I think we will learn to live with higher costs," he said.

Poland businesses struggle to stay afloat as EU sanctions on Russia drive up energy costs