New survey finds AI rush isn’t boosting ports earnings
A survey of industry experts finds that even as container ports deploy artificial intelligence, few are seeing measurable financial returns.
A new survey of 103 industry experts has found that artificial intelligence is moving beyond trials in container ports and terminals, but measurable financial returns remain scarce.
While 44% of respondents said their organizations had reached the scaling stage or beyond, Boston Consulting Group reported, only 4% reported measurable earnings gains and just 11% systematically tracked AI’s contribution to efficiency or margins.
The findings highlight a measurement gap as operators expand their use of technology to process shipping documents, anticipate equipment failures and support operational decisions. Conducted in August 2026 with the Terminal Industry Committee 4.0 (TIC4.0), an international, non-profit association established in 2019 and based in Brussels, the survey covered experts across five continents, including terminal operators, port authorities, container shipping lines and port vendors. BCG published the findings in October.
The study assessed 43 AI use cases. Extracting data from shipping documents was being explored or implemented by 62% of respondents, while 48% were exploring or using AI to predict failures in equipment such as cranes and straddle carriers.
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