With the rapid development of the logistics industry and the continuous expansion of global trade, container transportation, as one of the main modes of modern cargo transportation, has become closely related to our daily lives and is gaining increasing attention ^[1][2][1,2]. The international shipping transportation mode plays a significant role in worldwide trading, which accounts for 80% of international trade volume. Due to the increasing volume and rapid development of container transportation, container liner transportation, as one of the three major sea transportation methods, has become an important component of world trade goods transportation due to its low transportation costs and the agile ability to connect different transportation methods, which undertakes more than 70% of international industrial supplies and general consumer goods transportation [3].

Driven by the rapid development of digital transformation and internet-based technology, the continuous innovation of information technology has also brought new opportunities to container transportation, contributing to container logistics supply chain (CLSC) innovations ^[4][5][6][4,5,6]. In recent years, the large-scale development of container liners and the advancement in information technology have further expanded international trade worldwide, leading to a rapid growth in global maritime container traffic. The global container traffic had reached over 20,100,000 TEUs (twenty-feet equivalent units) in 2022. At the same time, with the rapid growth of containerized shipping traffic, the carbon emission issue has also arisen. Likewise, it shifts our eyes to focus on the sustainable development of container logistics operations due to current global warming issues [7]. Faced with the escalating climate crisis, the international authority organization believes that the shipping industry lacks the driving force to respond to climate change. According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the global shipping industry’s carbon dioxide emissions exceeded 1 billion tons in 2022, accounting for approximately 2–3% of global emissions, and it will continue to have a growing trend. Based on the current economic development trend, it is estimated that the growth rate will reach from 50% to 250% by 2050 [8]. Therefore, it is imperative to implement environmentally sustainable development approaches for the container shipping industry by strictly controlling ship emissions and innovative management practices [9].

The 80th Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting, which was held by the International Maritime Organization in July 2023, revised the emission reduction strategy for the maritime industry [10]. By 2030, the global greenhouse gas emissions from the maritime industry will be reduced by at least 20% compared to 2008, and efforts will be made to achieve the 30% emission reduction target. By 2040, it will reduce emissions by at least 70%, strive to achieve the 80% emission reduction target, and promise to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. With various environmental protection policies and emission reduction regulations, problems such as rising oil prices and fluctuating transportation capacity in container transportation have emerged one after another [11]. At the same time, the lack of technological innovation has led to the brutal growth of industry efficiency, organizational management, disorderly competition, and monopoly, which have gradually become prominent. The container transportation industry urgently needs to break through. During the IOT-based industry 4.0 era, technological innovation is the primary productive force, and advanced information technology has brought new possibilities for container transportation and supply chain management ^[12][13][12,13]. Digital technology, such as 5G, cloud computing, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, drives the upgrading and promotion of container supply chain management under the logistics 4.0 era ^[14][15][14,15].

2. IoT-Based Container Logistics 4.0

Containers have advantages such as high efficiency, high quality, high capital density, specialization, and standardization, and their application in the logistics industry has broad prospects for development. The development of container transportation logistics reflects the degree of industrialization and modernization of a country [16]. Modern container logistics mainly involves multimodal transportation through various means such as public transportation, rail transportation, and sea transportation. The healthy competition among logistics systems composed of shipping companies, port companies, and railways promotes the development of China’s container logistics industry [17]. In addition, the comprehensive promotion of the leapfrog development strategy of railways has created a good market environment for China’s container transportation, promoting significant development in China’s container transportation. In 2003, the throughput of container ports in mainland China jumped to the top in the world. Since 2007, China’s container transportation industry has become mature, forming six major port clusters including the Pearl River Delta, Southeast Coast, Southwest Coast, Yangtze River Delta, Yangtze River Basin, and Bohai Rim [18]. In 2020, China’s coastal ports completed a throughput of 248 million TEUs, ranking among the top in the world [19]. At the same time, due to the impact of the epidemic, it is difficult to find a single container globally, and the shipping cost of containers has rapidly increased [20]. China’s container logistics have developed rapidly. At present, container transportation in China has become an important component of international logistics and plays a crucial role in global port transportation [21]. To promote the further development of container logistics, the introduction of blockchain technology with features such as decentralization, smart contracts, and traceability is aimed to solve the current logistics problems of containers. The China Railway Group has disclosed that China–Europe trains operated a total of 1410 trains and transported 1.47 million TEUs in January 2023, with year-on-year growth of 6% and 13%, respectively. The railway department has expanded the domestic transportation capacity of the China–Europe freight train by an additional ton, with an average increase of about 8% in the container shipping capacity of a single China–Europe freight train [22]. Port operations have been optimized and adjusted, greatly improving the customs clearance efficiency of the China–Europe freight train. Among them, the number of China Europe trains operating in Yiwu reached 240, and the freight volume passing through the Alashankou Railway Port reached 1.114 million tons, and a year-on-year increase of 12.8%, ensuring the smooth flow of international logistics. Due to the frequent outbreaks of domestic epidemics and the Russia–Ukraine conflict, China’s container multi-modal transport industry and the China–EU trains are increasingly resilient to adversity [23]. The port container throughput and the volume of sea rail inter-modal transport containers are growing steadily on the whole. The continuous growth in sea rail inter-modal container volume and the rapid recovery of China–Europe freight trains have ensured the stability of domestic and international supply chains. Due to the good development of multi-modal transportation by multiple port enterprises, national ministries are gradually supporting the development of multi-modal transportation [24]. Local governments and enterprises in various regions jointly promote the development of multi-modal transportation, enabling China’s multi-modal transportation to embark on a stable and rapid development path. Multi-modal transportation is a guarantee for the security and stable development of the supply chain [25]. To this end, the industry must unite and cooperate to find a path for the development of multi-modal transportation with Chinese characteristics. During the process of increasing globalization, China’s freight container ports have developed rapidly [26]. The significant increase in container throughput and transportation volume has driven the rapid development of China’s container logistics transportation industry. At the same time, container logistics also face development challenges. When there are abnormalities in a container, it is difficult to monitor it. The emergence of multi-sensor information technology can monitor the abnormal status of containers. Multi-sensor information technology utilizes multiple sensor monitoring nodes in the container to form an effective network, which not only senses and acquires data from each node, but also processes and fuses the collected data. It optimizes information judgment through the connection and fusion of sensor information, and ultimately monitors an abnormal situation in a container and provides early warning. By applying multi-sensor information fusion technology to monitor the abnormal status of containers, real-time data can be obtained, and the status information of containers can be more accurately and comprehensively grasped. This enables real-time and accurate monitoring and warning of abnormal status in containers, ensuring the safety of goods, reducing damage, and improving the safety of container logistics transportation [27].

3. Container Supply Chain Management

Driven by digital technology and IOT-based techniques, the container supply chain tends to the higher integration and efficient management of various links and data in the container supply chain practice [28]. Digital technology and information systems are adopted to achieve full process monitoring, data sharing, and intelligent decision making in container transportation, improving transportation efficiency and management level ^[29][30][29,30]. With the continuous development of enterprise scale, the number of types of goods in logistics and supply chain management is constantly increasing, and the frequency of inbound and outbound operations is sharply increasing [31]. Container supply chain management has become very complex and diverse, and traditional manual warehouse operation modes and data collection methods are no longer able to meet the fast and accurate requirements of warehouse management, seriously affecting the operational efficiency of enterprises. Therefore, it is urgent to build an intelligent warehouse management system to improve logistics efficiency by warehouse space re-utilization and reasonable labor allocation [32]. In order to achieve effective optimization of human resources, equipment utilization, logistics, and supply chain management are used to improve the core competitiveness of the enterprise. Aslanzade developed an intelligent decision-making framework to evaluate the social responsibility level of container supply chain management [33]. Jeong, Y. formulated an integer linear programming model to implement an empty container management strategy, and the proactive measures were proposed to ensure container supply in high-risk areas [34]. Digital containers play an important role in global logistics, as they can provide many advantages and promote improvement in logistics efficiency and sustainability ^[35][36][35,36]. The efficiency and sustainability of global logistics is obviously improved by employing digital containers, which is achieved by real-time information sharing, transportation plan optimization, and paper-based work reduction. They have introduced more intelligent and data-driven elements to the logistics industry, driving innovation and development in logistics business ^[37][38][37,38]. Digital container supply chain management can also improve the transparency and flexibility of the supply chain, reduce errors in information transmission and operation, optimize resource utilization and reduce waste, improve transportation efficiency, and reduce costs [39]. At the same time, it can also provide better decision-making support and risk management capabilities, providing more accurate and timely information and analysis for enterprise strategic planning and operational decision making [40].

4. Digital Technology

With the continuous development of internet technology and the arrival of the era of digital economy globalization, performing innovations by adopting digital techniques is inevitable [41]. The development of the digital economy has become inevitable ^[2][42][2,42]. The digital economy is mainly a new form of economic development based on information technologies such as big data, blockchain, and artificial intelligence. As a new economic format, the digital economy can achieve cross time, space penetration, and dissemination of digital technology [43]. The application of digital technology among enterprises can achieve integrity in enterprises, and the information sharing and construction of a blockchain can achieve stable and sustainable development in the social economy. The supply chain system in the digital era emphasizes the activation, empowerment, and risk prevention of the physical supply chain through supply chain finance [44]. Intelligent supply chain finance, supported by digital techniques, has penetrated into industrial chain trade scenarios and business transactions, which helps to pressure a reduction in subject credit, efficient monitoring of business capabilities, and effective supervision of business operations. In addition, it assists in achieving closed-loop monitoring of the entire supply chain system. Considering the traditional supply chain model will be replaced by digital ecosystems, it is critical for enterprises to create added value by incorporating digital ecosystems into the organizational economy [45]. With the continuous expansion of the application of digital technology, the application of digital techniques has penetrated into various aspects of containers logistics and supply chain processes, including logistics transportation, warehouse management, cargo handling, distribution network, and container port [46]. These digital techniques, including RFID technology, sensor technology, cloud computing technology, big data analysis technology, etc., have been widely adopted in supply chain practice in the industry 4.0 era. With the continuous development of digital technology, more and more logistics enterprises are beginning to realize the necessity and importance of digital transformation [47]. Digital logistics platforms are constructed by integrating digital techniques, and digital logistics are innovated to help firms achieve efficiency improvement and better service. For example, artificial intelligence will be applied to optimize and intelligently schedule logistics distribution routes, blockchain technology will be applied to encrypt and share logistics information, and intelligent logistics equipment will be widely used. At the same time, digital containers play an important role in global logistics, effectively promoting improvement in logistics efficiency and sustainability [2]. The intelligent container and digital operations contribute to efficiency improvement in logistics activities. Digital containers can be equipped with various sensors and communication devices to monitor the location, status, and environmental conditions of a container in real-time. This makes the transportation process of goods more transparent, allowing logistics companies and customers to keep track of the real-time location and status of goods at any time, reducing the risk of loss and damage to goods. By collecting and analyzing data, digital containers can provide logistics companies with real-time information about cargo transportation [48]. This is beneficial for optimizing transportation plans, improving air or repeat transportation, reducing logistics costs, and resource utilization. Digital containers can help to predict the tax time of goods and avoid congestion through intelligent route planning and coordination, thereby reducing the allocation time at transit stations and ports. In addition, digital devices can help to achieve real-time monitoring and anti-theft functions, effectively preventing the risk of goods being stolen or damaged through technologies such as GPS positioning, seals, and security sensors. Digital containers also provide a platform for sharing information among different logistics participants, including manufacturers, suppliers, logistics companies, transportation companies, etc. This helps to improve cross-border cooperation and information exchange, promoting harmonious operation of the entire supply chain [14].