A Reference Architecture for Dry Port Digital Twins: Preliminary Assessment Using ArchiMate

Abstract

Dry Ports are critical infrastructures in the logistics chain, optimizing seaport operations by providing customs services and container storage on land. Some of their main challenges include traffic congestion, environmental impact, high dependence on regulations and paper documentation, and the need to provide reliable information to government authorities and road and rail freight industries. More recently, Digital Twins have emerged as a promising solution to monitor real-time information and optimize Dry Port operations simultaneously. This paper presents the initial proposal of a reference architecture for developing Dry Port’s Digital Twins. It results from a design science research project conducted in cooperation with a major IT company in the logistics sector and a Dry Port operator in Portugal. ArchiMate was the selected language for architecture modeling. Our theoretical contribution is in the form of a high-level reference architecture, confirming the suitability of the ArchiMate language. For practitioners, this work is part of the Portuguese NEXUS agenda: Innovation Pact for Green and Digital Transition for Transport, Logistics, and Mobility, assisting in adopting Blockchain, Optical Recognition, and Artificial Intelligence as crucial technological enablers.