Control over maritime logistics technology is emerging as a new instrument of geo-economic power. Examine with reference to China's smart-port push and its implications for India.

Maritime transport carries over 80% of world goods trade by volume [1][2]. China already holds large stakes in ports around the world [1]. It now wants to control the systems that run ports as well, so its leverage would come from owning the code and not just the assets.

China's smart-port push as geo-economic power

• Showcase diplomacy: the Mawan Terminal, Shenzhen runs on driverless trucks, remote-controlled cranes and AI systems. China will market it to Asia-Pacific economies at the APEC Shenzhen summit in November 2026 [1].
• Hardware dominance: one Chinese firm, ZPMC, makes nearly 80% of the ship-to-shore cranes working at US ports [3].
• Back doors: a US congressional investigation found cellular modems on ZPMC cranes. The cranes did not need them to operate, and they opened a hidden route for collecting data [3].
• Coercion potential: experts warn that a monopoly in this technology could be used for economic coercion and espionage, or to cripple trade networks in a crisis [1].

Limits of this leverage

• LOGINK, a China-backed shipping data platform once feared as a "trade super weapon", has quietly collapsed [1].
• The risk is still mostly potential. China calls the charges unfounded, and US port authorities knew of no security breach involving port equipment [3].
• Chinese equipment leads the market mainly because it is cheap and efficient.

Implications for India

• Legacy gap: since 2020, India's General Financial Rules restrict bidders from countries sharing a land border with India on national-security grounds [4]. The rule applies to new procurement, so cranes and software already installed are not covered.
• Efficiency at stake: average ship turnaround fell from 96 hours (2014) to 49.5 hours (2025), and nine Indian ports rank in the world's top 100 [5]. Shutting out cheap suppliers overnight could slow these gains.
• Strategic encirclement: China already holds overseas port stakes [1]. If it also supplies the technology to Indian Ocean neighbours, it could gain visibility over India's trade routes.

Way forward

• Audit installed cranes and terminal software. Cut off modems that cranes do not need and install monitoring software, as the US committees recommended [3].
• Treat port control systems as critical information infrastructure and apply the trusted-source approach India uses for telecom.
• Indigenise cranes and terminal operating systems under Sagarmala [5], and keep port data within India (data localisation).

Control of port technology is becoming a strategic chokepoint like semiconductors, even though China's reach has limits. India's goal should be ports that are both secure and fast: modernise with trusted, home-grown systems without giving up efficiency. That matches the aim of the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 and SDG 9's call for resilient infrastructure.