Docking the digital network: Ports as digital media infrastructures

Ports connect industries across the world as a site for the exchange of commodities, and their operation has negative effects on the environment. While many ports have developed plans for sustainability, they are largely structured according to their marine economy and governance model. Through concession agreements and incentive programmes, many companies have invested in onshore power supply (OPS) technology to connect to the landside grid and minimize pollution while their vessels are docked. In an effort to address sustainability, the telecommunications sector has also invested in OPS. This is because the backbone of our global internet is installed, maintained and repaired by a fuel-intensive marine fleet that uses ports. In order for ports to optimize their sustainability efforts, they should approach this endeavour according to their functional connectivity across infrastructures, a framework I refer to as docking. The phrase ‘docking the digital network’ specifically designates the application of this framework to describe the environmental impact resulting from the infrastructural relationship within the port–subsea cable–cable ship media system. By analysing industry reports and interviews, this article argues that ports are digital media infrastructures. Through docking, media studies scholarship can address questions of sustainability using a relational approach for infrastructures of mediation with potential avenues for environmental justice.