Public administration of digital transformation of port activities: definitions, levels and functions

Abstract

The aim of this article is to form the basic principles of the concept of public administration of digital transformation of port activities. The research analyzes the modern scientific approaches to the public administration and focuses on the insufficient elaboration of the theoretical aspects of managing the digital transformation of the port industry. The particular attention has been paid to the role of digital technologies as a tool for implementing the functions of the public management and a factor of raising the efficiency, transparency and security of the port activities. The methodological basis of the research is a complex of scientific ways of cognition: the analysis and synthesis, the system approach, the observation and abstraction. They provided a comprehensive research of the subject and the validity of the derived conclusions. The main results of the research are the development of the author’s definition of the category “the public administration of port activities’ digitalization”; the substantiation of the multi-level nature of this managerial phenomenon with the separation of supranational and national levels, as well as the definition of the public administration functions inherent in each of them. The supranational level combines the global, regional and bilateral elements. The national level covers the state, sectoral and local components. It has been proved that the effective digital transformation of port activities is ensured by the concerted realization of the normative, organizing, co-ordinating and service functions at all levels of the public administration. The conclusions highlight the need for further scientific research to continue the formation of the concept of the public administration of port activities’ digitalization through the study of the institutional system of such administration, the relevant regulatory tools and the peculiarities of the use of the latest technologies in the management of port activities.