Digital

Initiated by the Aix Marseille Provence Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Port of Marseille Fos and Aix Marseille University, and deployed with their partners, the French Smart Port in Med approach pursues four strategic aims: 

• Improve the economic and environmental performance of the Port's logistics and industrial ecosystem.  
• Create new sources of value and jobs, particularly in the digital sector.
• Strengthen the relationships and interactions between the Port and the Metropolitan territory.   
• Promote the port community and contribute to differentiating Marseille Fos, particularly in the Mediterranean.

The French Smart Port in Med allows the Port and its territory be viewed as a testing ground for new uses, applications and systems.

 
Marseille Fos and its ecosystem thus stands out from other ports by improving the range of services on offer and by revealing the dynamism of its economic base for the benefit of its users and stakeholders.

 
This major project is a regional project that unites public and private players and pools economic development plans to promote employment, preserve the quality of life and create wealth.

The Port has positioned itself as a digital data hub with the creation of new sectors in the digital economy to generate value and new sources of jobs: data centers, submarine cables, new services linked to the deployment of 4G+ and even 5G, artificial intelligence, blockchain, smartport data, etc.

Interest and goal: 

• Diversify its activities and therefore its sources of revenue. 
• Offer a secure service to digital operators for the passage and connection of their submarine cables between sea and land to the data center of their choice.

INTERXION, the world's second-largest data center operator, laid the foundation stone for MRS2 in June 2017 in the port area, with the extension of its activity, by rehabilitating the World War II submarine base.

With the arrival of Interxion and the construction of the landing infrastructure, the Port of Marseille Fos is at the crossroads of the global information superhighway and is firmly established as the Smart Port in Med: a port that is always at the forefront of innovation in order to create both economic and ecological value for the region, in a world where all things digital should not be seen as an end in themselves, but rather a means to create twofold value.

Marseille Fos : 9th in the world for digital hubs and poised to move into the top 5.

Given the current location of datacenters both within and close to the port area, the connection of submarine cables on the Port of Marseille has proven to be advantageous.

Submarine cables : 
In order to respond to the increase in the volume and diversity of the content being exchanged, the Port of Marseille Fos has begun the construction of a new fully integrated landing infrastructure for submarine cables. These will be able to pass through individual sheaths connecting the sea and the onshore landing chambers by going under the seawall, before connecting to the land-based telecommunications network and/or the surrounding data centers, with the option of activating Power Feed Equipment (PFE). The Port is committed to delivering soon he first phase to accommodate an initial series of cables. 

• Objective: provide a ready-to-use, reliable and convenient interface for cables routed to Marseille from all over the world. 

Ci5 : the Cargo Intelligent System developed by the company MGI (Marseille Gyptis International, in which the Port is a shareholder), is the fifth generation of the cargo community system, a one-stop shop dedicated to managing cargo flows. It consolidates information, automates processes, orchestrates and secures the activities of private and public players in a port, airport or land community. 

Objectives: Considerable time savings for users, faster passage of cargo through the Port and enhanced competitiveness for the port community.

It is a powerful and seamless management tool. In 2019, MGI and the Port of Marseille Fos won the Digital Trn ansformation awards.

The “MeRS” logistics blockchain pilot, based on cooperation between Buyco, Keeex's blockchain solution and MGI's Ci5 is a success. The purpose of this pilot demonstrator was to test the security of the digital transport chain in order to improve the flow, safety and competitiveness of the logistics chain and the intermodal routing of shipments on the Rhône/Saône corridor and to measure the ecological footprint. This was done with cargo from the industrialist Kem One, which used the system under real-life conditions, on their shipments between Lyon and Fos.

Neptune Port, developed by the Port of Marseille Fos in collaboration with Capgemini is a central system replacing the Escale V2 system. It is designed to orchestrate the multiple interconnections of all the service providers and professions.

The Neptune Port solution incorporates the GUP "Guichet Unique Portuaire" (one-stop-shop) and allows the European Union port declarants to complete their administrative formalities in a completely dematerialized form.

The Eco-calculator for CO2 emissions developed by Searoutes, in partnership with the Port of Marseille Fos as part of the 1st SmartPort Challenge, is intended for logistics chain players.  

• It calculates the environmental footprint of the ships' routes based on their position history.
• The solution also offers the possibility of comparing the carbon footprint of different routes for a given journey with the option of selecting different port transit points and modes of transport.

From the point of view of the Port of Marseille Fos, this tool brings transparency and reliability to CO2 emission calculations and adds value to the Port's hinterland offering. Shift by Searoutes can also be configured with data (hinterland) from other ports to meet their CO2 emission control challenges.