Editorial: Smartization and resilience of ports and shipping

Ports and shipping now operate in an environment marked by persistent and overlapping uncertainty. Geopolitical tensions, public health emergencies, natural hazards, supply chain volatility, decarbonization pressure, and rapid technological change have all exposed the vulnerability of maritime systems. In this context, resilience is no longer understood only as recovery after disruption. It also refers to the capacity of ports and shipping systems to absorb shocks, adjust to changing conditions, maintain service continuity, and transform under new economic, environmental, and technological constraints. Recent research has shown that port resilience involves not only infrastructure and recovery capability, but also organizational adaptation, technological support, governance capacity, and supply chain coordination (Tsoulfas, 2025). At the same time, smartization is changing how maritime operations are planned, monitored, and managed. Studies on smart ports increasingly associate digital transformation with operational efficiency, sustainability, stakeholder coordination, and resilience building (Dağıstan et al., 2025). Against this background, this Research Topic, Smartization and Resilience of Ports and Shipping, brings together studies that examine how technological, operational, environmental, and institutional approaches can support more adaptive and sustainable maritime systems.A useful way to approach the contributions is to begin with scale. Port resilience cannot be fully understood by looking only at single terminals or individual ports. Wang et al. evaluate the development performance of the Yangtze River Delta port cluster and show that port-cluster performance depends not only on competitiveness, but also on coordination and system harmony among ports. Yin et al. examine the temporal-spatial evolution of resilience in China's coastal ports, revealing an overall improvement in resilience alongside persistent regional disparities. Extending the analysis to a broader economic setting, Mi et al. assess trade and port-based resilience under the expansion of the Belt and Road trade agreement, linking port-related logistics with trade flows, economic welfare, industrial structure, and embodied carbon transfer. These studies suggest that port resilience is shaped by regional economies, trade patterns, and interport coordination, rather than by isolated port performance alone.Uncertainty is also felt directly in day-to-day maritime operations. Fuel prices fluctuate, berthing times vary, demand is unstable, terminal arrivals are difficult to predict, and large-scale model-driven defense mechanism for cyber-resilient smart ports, highlighting that cybersecurity has become a basic condition for maintaining operational continuity in highly connected port systems. Together, these works show that smartization contributes to resilience when it improves coordination, response speed, and decision robustness, rather than when it is treated as technology adoption for its own sake.The environmental transition gives resilience another layer of meaning. In this process, port authorities are increasingly expected to play an active role in energy management, cleaner technology adoption, and environmental governance (Acciaro et al., 2014). Xie and Zhou examine port green investment under government subsidization and regulation policy, showing how policy tools affect port output, green investment, and social welfare. Liu et al. provide a systematic review of green innovation in ports, identifying the drivers, domains, and challenges of green transformation. Wang and Wang analyze carbon emission reduction in dry port-seaport systems and show how shared transport and modal shift can lower emissions in hinterland logistics. At the shipping level, Shi et al. examine green technology licensing and carbon tax policies, introducing regulatory resilience as an important concern for carriers adapting to fragmented environmental regulation. These contributions make clear that sustainability and resilience are closely connected: maritime systems that fail to adapt to environmental regulation, energy transition, and carbon reduction requirements may face growing operational and strategic risks.Markets and institutions further shape how resilience is built and maintained. Dong et al. analyze decision-making and risk management in second-hand ship transactions under information asymmetry, showing how hidden vessel attributes can distort pricing, create information rents, and reduce market efficiency. Bai et al. discuss the fisheries funding mechanism under the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, emphasizing the importance of financial and technical assistance for sustainable marine governance, especially for developing and least-developed countries. Although these studies differ from operational optimization papers in method and scope, they underline a related point: resilient maritime systems require not only advanced technologies, but also credible information, effective rules, and institutions capable of aligning private incentives with public objectives.Overall, this Research Topic highlights the need to understand smartization and resilience in ports and shipping as a system-wide process involving operations, technology, environment, markets, and governance. Smart technologies can improve monitoring, prediction, coordination, and response, but their value depends on how they are embedded in organizational practices and supported by appropriate regulatory frameworks. Future research could further connect terminal-level optimization, portcluster governance, shipping-market coordination, low-carbon transition, and global maritime policy. Such cross-scale work will be important for building maritime systems that are more efficient, secure, adaptive, and sustainable under continuing uncertainty.