Theme: Digitalisation 
Industry Adaption: ⚫ ⚫ ⚪ ⚪ Early Adopters 
Impact:  ⚫ ⚫ ⚪ Significant 

A 2024 Maersk survey shows that decision makers rank Smart Port 15th out of the top 15 trends.

Smart ports leverage technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and optimisation of operations, increase safety for labour and enhance sustainability. By enabling 24/7 operations and improving cargo flow management, smart ports offer transformative solutions to the complex challenges of modern logistics. Innovations and technology assistance to the workforce are helping ports maximise throughput within limited space and ensure cost savings by reducing delays and vulnerabilities to crises.

Industry leaders expect over half of new port projects to be semi or fully automated within five years, with automation projected to cut operating expenses by 25-55% and boost productivity by 10-35%. Innovation in smart port technologies is moderate, with over 400 patents filed from 2019 to 2023, although only a small share is groundbreaking. Scientific interest remains steady with approximately 1,500 publications. Similarly, C-Suite discussions have remained relatively stable, with a slight decrease from 60 in 2022 to 50 in 2024, reflecting steady progress towards industry adoption.

Top 15 Trends

Share of Key Decision Makers, who consider the trend to be relevant for their company’s logistics

Smart Ports – Relevance by Industry

What are the opportunities? 

Smart ports can improve productivity through technology, and together with robotics, can augment and increase the efficiency of existing workforce populations. Strategic investments in ports can enhance infrastructure, sustainability, and capacity. 

What are the challenges?

Challenges for smart ports include high installation costs, resistance from labour unions due to concerns over job displacement, and the vulnerability of ports due to extreme weather; 80% face risks from typhoons annually, highlighting the need for robust risk mitigation strategies.

Sources: 

• McKinsey (2018). 
• Survey among 500+ global logistics decision makers across various industries, conducted by Statista for Maersk (Q4 2024). 
• In-depth interviews with global industry experts, academia, and futurists.
• Unstructured web sources with more than 10,000 search term permutations using AI. 
• Curated data from startup databases, patent databases, and analysis tools, as well as Semantic Scholar.