Cutting-edge AI can make port operations hum along smoothly

Observers of the world’s ports will see the same processes happening in perfect choreography – a dance that keeps essential goods and opportunities in motion.

Huge cranes work tirelessly to lift shipping containers off ships and onto land, and vice versa; like giant colourful building blocks, these crates are stacked with precision.

What you may not have realised is that the human skill behind this display is already being augmented by AI.

When it comes to efficiency gains, AI is reshaping how we function as logistics operators, thanks to its ability to recognise patterns and automate routine tasks. With Deep Reinforcement Learning and Agentic AI, we gain a digital brain with reasoning abilities to tackle previously inefficient processes.

Take my lovely port motif.

An international terminal handles thousands of container moves daily. A minor ship delay forces planners to manually re-assess container placements, causing idle time for ships, trucks and cranes. Combined with the heavy paperwork involved, small disruptions quickly become costly and time-consuming.

Deep Reinforcement Learning solves this.

Like the algorithm that powered AlphaGo, these models simulate millions of container placement scenarios, helping operators choose the best outcomes: fewer unproductive moves and less energy use.

AI models trained in this way ensure that incoming containers are placed strategically, so even if a shipment arrives late, an operator doesn’t need to reshuffle the entire container yard to fit everything in – let alone do it all again just to find cargo that was there beforehand.

For ports with millions of unproductive moves annually, this technology offers substantial savings on turnaround times, fuel and operational costs.

We must stay realistic about what AI can achieve. These tools augment operations. In ports, AI can free teams from repetitive, dangerous tasks, enabling them to focus on strategic work.

Workers shift from manual roles to supervisors while automation handles routine jobs. It’s the perfect example of human critical thinking combining with intelligent systems to unlock new capabilities. 

At DP World, we’re also transforming enterprise workflows using OpenAI’s reasoning models. AI Agents start with a high-level task and work autonomously to complete it, using other tools as needed. While humans will still supervise, these agents can accelerate workflows dramatically.

This model enables ‘elastic work’ –a term from Box CEO Aaron Levie. It gives industries agility in deploying teams or handling disruptions. Employees gain space to innovate instead of repeating inefficiencies.

Agentic AI also boosts organisational agility. From securing approvals to freeing resources, traditional bottlenecks slow progress. AI agents reduce this friction. Organisations can test multiple strategies simultaneously, scaling successful ones quickly – as though 100 digital assistants are at work.

This is vital for industries like ours. To overhaul the physical infrastructure of supply chains is incredibly costly and requires the buy-in of governments and, to some extent, local communities. These factors can delay progress – or silo developments to the world’s wealthier markets, which has led to a lack of standardised efficiencies throughout trade networks.

AI tools, whether Deep Reinforcement Learning or Agentic AI, offer us a way of rethinking about how we use the teams and equipment that are already in place, which is a significant step forward for trade and everyone whose livelihoods depend on it. 

However, caution is key. 

AI’s benefits rely on parameters set by skilled humans. Without the right inputs, AI can’t deliver reliable predictions or improvements. Human expertise remains essential to guide and interpret AI outcomes. At DP World, collaboration drives how we use AI.

So, as AI expands and enrich jobs, employees and their employers across the world can begin to unlock the huge potential of elastic working. With careful management, I'm already starting to see how this can deliver the unprecedented productivity, innovation, and agility world logistics needs to write a smarter chapter for trade.