1. What do you think is the current status of standardization in the container terminal industry, what are the points not addressed yet?
A lot of work has been done in the standardization of message flows between industry participants, mainly terminal operators, shipping lines and customs authorities. Although the underlying technologies may need to be updated (or are being updated) from traditional EDI to webservices, the format and exchange of data is quite mature. Where the focus is currently is to bring this level of maturity to the exchange of data between equipment/machines and operational and planning systems.
2. From your point of view, why are standards important moving forward in the 4th industrial revolution and IoT?
In order not to have to build from scratch the interfaces between sensors and equipment and operational systems, these standards should be developed and adopted by the industry. The effort to develop these on a per project basis make this a costly and time-consuming exercise which slows down the adoption of technology into the industry which will improve safety as well as efficiency.