Ports Use AI Widely. Few Measure What It Gives Back.

A port that buys a new crane knows how many moves per hour it adds. A port that adds AI often does not. That is the main finding of a new survey, and it applies to ship managers too.

The survey. In August 2026, the consultancy BCG and TIC4.0, an industry group of terminal operators and suppliers that works on shared data standards, asked 103 experts on five continents about AI. They came from terminal operators, port authorities, container lines and port suppliers.

The numbers. 44% say their organisation has moved past testing and is scaling AI. But only 11% measure, in a regular way, what AI adds to efficiency or margin. And only 4% can point to a gain in earnings. The biggest problem named was not knowing the return (41%), ahead of data quality (32%) and joining systems together (30%). Among 43 uses, reading data out of shipping documents and predicting equipment failures were among the most common. Only 18% said customers had a better experience.

How to read it. This does not say AI fails in ports. It says most ports do not measure it. If you do not count the moves before and after, you cannot show a gain, even when there is one. BCG's advice is simple: prove the value on one job before you spread it everywhere, and fix your data first.

Our caveats. It is a survey of opinions, not audited results. BCG sells consulting on exactly this problem. And the survey was published in late October. We include it now because it fits this week's question so well.

Why a ship manager should care. Ship management has the same gap. Many offices now use AI for emails, reports or document checks, and almost nobody writes down the time it took before.

What to do. Before you start any AI tool, write down one number for the job it will do: hours per week, errors per month, or days to close. Check the same number after three months. That one line is the difference between "we use AI" and "AI saves us this much". [BCG · Smart Maritime Network · WorldCargo News]

This story is part of the Maritime AI Digest of 8 November 2026.

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