DP World looks to the future

The report by the by the Economist Intelligence Unit at DP World said that rather than keep up with the larger terminals, non-greenfield port terminals should rather delay some major investments until capital costs come down and the technology becomes more widely used.

Investment also needs to be ‘smart’ so any new machine will need to be interoperable with others used across the supply chain.

As the threat of cyber security looks set to rise in future, port operators will become a likely target for attacks and automation increases the damage that such an attack could bring. Therefore, port operators will need to work with private sectors and governments to share information.

The report recognises that government policy may be the driver of some innovations, especially in the sector of autonomous vehicles and drones. It said that the regulatory stance taken by governments will be critical in determining how fast the rollout happens.

For ports and logistics firms, the rise of these ICT innovations will make some jobs redundant, but will also lead to new positions that will require new types of skills including applied mathematics, statistics, data analytics and more.

But all will need to ensure that they work in partnership with training centres to ensure that a steady supply able recruits are available.