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@article{186281,
        author = {Venkata Ramana Akkaraju},
        title = {Redefining Maritime Logistics: Leveraging Digital Twin-Based Auto-Pilotage for Enhanced Safety and Efficiency in Indian Ports},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {6},
        pages = {953-962},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=186281},
        abstract = {— Indian ports are important nodes of national and international trade but are facing growing issues of congestion, navigation hazards, and poor fuel efficiency. Conventional manual pilotage is vulnerable to human mistake and not adequate for coping with the increasing complexity of ship traffic. This research assesses digital twin-based auto-pilotage as a scalable answer to improve security, operational efficiency, and sustainability at Indian ports. A digital twin of Mumbai Port in 3D was created with MATLAB/Simulink, Unity, Python, and AnyLogic, combined with real-time IoT streams of GPS, LiDAR, AIS, and environmental APIs. Simulation scenarios contrasted manual pilotage, semi-automated decision aid, and fully automated digital twin-enabled auto-pilotage across variable traffic volumes and weather conditions. The findings indicate that digital twin-augmented auto-pilotage cuts mean docking time by 41%, decreases near-miss probability by 73%, and cuts fuel consumption by 18%, with all of these metrics statistically proven across 50 simulation runs. The cognitive workload, measured through NASA-TLX, decreased from 75/100 to 35/100, indicating substantial alleviation for human pilots. These results suggest that cyber-physical integration of digital twins can provide predictive decision-making in real-time, optimize berth planning, and enhance maritime safety. Successful implementation in India needs India-specific frameworks, tackling vessel density, port infrastructure bottlenecks, and tropical weather fluctuations. Policy support through pilot projects and staged IoT infrastructure upgrades under programs like Sagarmala is necessary. Future studies should concentrate on multi-port tests, AI-based environmental modeling, and cybersecurity approaches for autonomous maritime operations. This research generates strong evidence that digital twin-based auto-pilotage is a revolutionary paradigm for modernizing Indian port operations and attaining global competitiveness in maritime logistics.},
        keywords = {Digital Twin, Auto-Pilotage, Maritime Logistics, Indian Ports, Port Safety, Operational Efficiency, Simulation, IoT Integration},
        month = {November},
        }