Peru delegation visits maritime university, hails joint smart port project

A delegation, led by Peru congresswoman Jhakeline Katy Ugarte Mamani, visited Shanghai Maritime University on Tuesday to further deepen exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in promoting smart logistics technology, building green and intelligent ports, training and student development for shipping personnel, and international maritime organization affairs.

Peru is an important country along South America's Pacific coast. The first smart port in South America, Chancay Port, officially opened for navigation last year, greatly reducing the shipping time between China and Peru.

Chancay Port is located in Chancay Bay, about 78 kilometers north of the Peruvian capital Lima. It is a significant project jointly built by China and Peru as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, and is recognized as the first smart port in South America.

The port features four deep-water berths capable of accommodating large vessels, with a design capacity of 100,000 standard containers per year, which will significantly shorten shipping times from Peru to Asia.

Shanghai Maritime University, as an important partner of COSCO Shipping Port Co Ltd in the construction of smart terminals, actively participated in the construction of Chancay Port, according to Song Baoru, Party secretary of the university.

Mamani pointed out that Chancay Port has opened up opportunities for the development of Peru and even Latin America.

"We hope to learn from the experience of Shanghai Maritime University in the fields of port and shipping, cutting-edge technology, and talent cultivation, and use education as a link to promote various forms of teacher-student exchange activities, and facilitate exchanges and cooperation between the school and various sectors in Peru," Mamani said.

University President Chu Beiping noted, "The school attaches great importance to deeply integrating artificial intelligence with maritime education and building a maritime education community.

"As the organizer of the International Maritime Organization's Asian Maritime Technical Cooperation Center (MTCC Asia) and the secretary-general unit of the International Maritime Teachers' Association (IMLA), the school is promoting the construction of the 'the Belt and Road' shipping education college alliance to cultivate more top-notch talent for the global maritime field.

"It looks forward to cooperating with Peru to cultivate professionals in the field of shipping, logistics and others among local people and jointly promote the development of global maritime education."