AAPA Seaports
As technologies become increasingly sophisticated and pervasive, the way ports operate is undergoing obvious changes. Automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI) are in the present for many ports and appear to loom much larger in the future as organizations of all kinds seek new ways of finding improvements in efficiency and productivity.
“What we’re seeing now are organizations saying, ‘Okay, if we really want to scale, we want to increase our throughput, increase our metrics, how are we going to do this?’ They see technology as a driving force for that,” said Rafael Fernandez, account manager, ports, Esri, which makes geographic information system (GIS) software.
Ports are adopting these technologies at their own pace — some taking an ambitious approach while others are more deliberate. Fernandez said one interesting development is that some ports that have historically been less aggressive with technology in the past are now able to surpass their peers in tech capabilities because they can start closer to scratch.
“They’re really waking up to digital transformation and digitizing their environment, and because they’re doing it right now, they’re able to leapfrog far ahead,” Fernandez said. “You’re seeing these ports who are doing a great job with it quickly becoming industry leaders in that space.”
In particular, Amar More, president, Kale Info Solutions, a logistics Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, said artificial intelligence will prove to be a transformative development for the port industry.
“There shall be just two categories of ports in the coming years — AI enabled and non-AI,” More said.
A Range of Uses
More said AI, automation, and robotics will be pivotal for enhancing operational efficiencies at ports.
More said emerging innovations such as a port community system, which is an electronic platform that connects the various entities that operate at a port, uses machine learning to streamline data analysis, reduce processing times and bolster efficiency in port management. AI also can help in areas such as forecasting and budgeting for ports and terminal operators.
“As these technologies evolve, their potential to revolutionize port operations continues to expand, marking them as indispensable tools for modernizing maritime logistics,” More said.
Terry Bills, global transportation industry director for Esri, said labor costs and efficiency are the big drivers for the use of automation, robotics, and AI, particularly in terminal operations. He noted that cranes (and their operation) have become increasingly automated, and in turn synchronized with gantry cranes in container yards and coordinated with automated guided vehicles to fully automate container yards.
“Shipment tracking — knowing exactly where a shipment or container is located at all times — is becoming more sophisticated,” Bills said. “While there are often still gaps in the full ‘end-to-end’ shipment tracking that everyone would like, technology is narrowing those gaps, and location technology is playing a major role.”
The use of machine learning for object detection is the form of AI most commonly used by ports now, Bills said.
“The use of object detection is becoming a lot more ubiquitous,” Bills said. “Whether you’re detecting vessels, whether you want to detect cracks in your pavement, etc., those are relatively easy to implement.”
Ports, however, are moving slower with other forms of AI, Bills and Fernandez said.
In particular, Fernandez said ports have been slow to adopt generative AI, which is a machine-learning model that can be trained to create new data, but he believes that will begin to change. AI assistants, which are virtual assistants designed to serve a range of information-based tasks currently — or formerly — handled by people, such as answering calls in a call center or answering text-based queries, are among the ways AI might gain a larger foothold in port operations.
More said the customer experience for ports is about smooth docking in and docking out of vessels, congestion-free truck movement and visibility of operations to the customer, and AI can help in each area.
“AI can improve prioritization and vessel scheduling,” More said. “It can predict and prioritize truck appointments, and it can also give visibility to the end customer through AI-based chatbots.”
Visibility and Coordination
More said AI can address a major challenge in container shipping — “the lack of transparency in cargo movements, status and costs, which often frustrates customers.”
“By providing real-time insights, AI enhances customer satisfaction by offering visibility into container whereabouts, arrival times, expenses and associated risks,” More said. “To meet evolving customer demands, ports must innovate and offer value-added services tailored to individual needs and preferences.”
Bills said terminal operations have become more efficient, but visibility throughout the shipping process — from origin to destination — remains elusive.
“Automating terminal operations certainly improves one part of that process, but there can be large inefficiencies on the front and back side of that process,” Bills said. “As we saw from the impacts at U.S. ports during COVID, bottlenecks in one part of that process ripple through the entire chain. If the ports and the vessel traffic services are not operating efficiently, this can impact port productivity.”
Bills said a lack of drayage, trucking and rail coordination can lead to major bottlenecks getting shipments out of ports in a timely and coordinated way. This lingering issue is one of the areas where technology could help make the greatest gains, Bills said.
Automating terminal operations is “just one piece of the larger chain,” he said.
“Ultimately gaining full advantage depends on gaining greater efficiencies on both sides of terminal operation,” Bills said. “And from our perspective, it is information and location intelligence that will drive those efficiencies. Currently at too many ports, the various business processes and workflows remain uncoordinated — information is not shared among the different players with the result that there are still significant inefficiencies in goods flows through a port.”
Bills said the use of machine-learning based port community systems, which attempt to bring the various players together to maximize overall port efficiencies, has found firmer footing in the European and larger Asian ports than in the U.S. so far. By bringing the various entities of a port together to share information, they can better coordinate their activities to increase overall productivity, Bills said.
The Workforce
Questions of how new technology will affect workers remain unanswered. More believes AI and automation tools can improve the experience and performance of workers by being enablers for accurate decision-making and performance enhancement.
“AI in ports and the maritime industry in general has the potential to improve efficiency and productivity, reduce costs and improve safety for workers,” More said. “It is important to note that AI will not necessarily replace workers but may change the nature of jobs and require different skills and knowledge. For example, workers may need skills in data analysis, programming, and maintenance of automated systems.”
Bills said automation could lead to a short-term drop in labor levels but a long-term increase as productivity improves, noting that automation at the Port of Rotterdam has led to an increase in total employment at the port.
“I suspect the types of jobs will be different at ports in the future, and a forward looking longshore effort would focus on how to capitalize on those future jobs, and less on trying to protect the jobs which will be likely easily replaced through automation,” Bills said. “I think those jobs are going to be different in the future. They’re going to be less manual, and I think they’re going to be higher-skilled jobs.”
Diego Ventura, CEO, NOHOLD, which develops AI assistants, said in an AAPA webinar that it is critical to involve team members in the process of integrating AI, such as in the case of virtual assistants, and to explain clearly to them how it can support their work and improve their experience.
“It’s super important to get everybody involved in explaining to them that this is not to replace them — AI is not a replacement — but to make their job easier, faster, so that they can focus on things that are really important for humans to be involved with and leaving the menial tasks to an automated system … that conversation needs to happen,” Ventura said. “And we strongly suggest always to involve staff in the training of the AI assistants so that they feel they are contributing to the creation of the tool itself.”
Looking Ahead
“The sky is the limit” for AI’s potential impact on port operations, according to More.
“In essence, AI’s versatility promises to redefine port operations, optimizing efficiency, security, and service quality in the face of evolving challenges,” More said.
Through the use of automation, the most efficient ports in the world so far are in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, Bills said. Those ports see technology “as part of their competitive strategy in world trade.”
“We have relied on the size of the U.S. domestic market to allow us to be less efficient, but that may not always hold true in the future,” Bills said. “We should be focused on making our supply chains the most efficient in the world, to help our producers and manufacturers compete in a global arena.”
Fernandez noted that as more ports in the U.S. highlight their work with sophisticated tech tools then there will be more adoption of them in other ports. He said the technology is fast becoming pervasive and accessible and does not require a lot of staff, decreasing the barrier of entry for smaller ports with fewer resources.
“Some of these smaller ports are starting to punch above their weight now and get recognition for it, and that recognition is going to push the market further,” Fernandez said.
Bills expects Asia, the Middle East and Europe will continue to expand its use of AI and automation more rapidly than in the U.S.
“That said, I think it is inevitable that U.S. ports will undergo greater automation, at least in the terminals, and continued efforts to solve some of the other port supply chain issues,” Bills said. “This is the great opportunity in front of U.S. ports, and I think executives who understand the value and role of information and location technology will lead the efforts at their respective ports.”
