By Irene Rosberg, Programme Director, Executive MBA in Shipping and Logistics, Programme Director, Blue Board Leadership
Ports have been and will always be a crucial hub to facilitate the movement of the world trade by connecting different modes of transport and boosting a seamless supply chain operations. Ports are also the major contributor to the boosting of the economy by creating jobs, attracting investments and providing the access to global producer and consumer markets. The disruptions in the port operations will be increasing costs and cause a cascading economic effects, will have delay the delivery times, and increase the costs of shipping and lead to shortage of essential goods, and might even force trade route changes which put the livelihood of local ports in jeopardy.
The traditional attention to efficiency and logistics which were the focal points in the seaports for a long time were shifted in 2025 and the focus was put on the new challenges facing the industry. The attention was therefor shifted to sustainability, geopolitics, digitalization, technology advancements, and strict regulations. When it comes to ports one could say that the most impactful challenges were the geopolitical ones which disrupted the maritime routes and targeted the infrastructures. The economic sanctions which were in place to put pressure against countries which contributed to the instability resulted to the emergence of shadow fleets which are often very old, poorly maintained vessels, with no proper insurance or a flag state oversight, no accountability, which by-pass the international sanctions and regulations, safety standard, and environmental policies and operate in a grey zone. They pose major safety and environment hazards to the ports.
Going forward we expect the seaports focus on reducing turn-around time and boosting efficiency, this would be done by investing in using AGVs and robotics. The use of AI and Digital Twins will also be high on the agenda to increase the efficiency and supply chain resilience and provide a path to navigate decarbonization through alternative fuels. Ports also need to have a contingency in place to face volume fluctuation which will be a result of both the route diversion due to war and instability in some of the sea routes, and tariffs, these will dictate the shaping of new trade routes and will impact the port volumes and the shipper’s strategy.
Preparing for potential cyber attacks is another area the ports need to focus on, and this involves putting measures in place to protect critical infrastructure and vessel traffic systems to ensure sustainable operations. It is crucial to invest in the cyber security plan and port facility security plan.
I am a strong believer that the success of any organization will depend on the investment they make in upskilling of their staff. Ports are no exception, even more in need to upskill their personnel from the operators to top executives so that they will have the right skills to identify the risk and strategies accordingly. With all the challenges such as digitalization, decarbonization and globally supply chain disruptions due to the geopolitical situations, it has never been as crucial and urgent for the port personnel to get the right skills to face these challenges and meet the demands.
So let me highlight that the shortage of skilled staff is a major challenge for the ports. To succeed, ports have no choice but to become smarter, move towards data-driven operations and be more efficient. To achieve this, there would be a need for upskilling the staff to be more digitally literate, and aim at building a more inclusive, more diverse and a lot more digitally savvy leadership pipeline.
To learn more about the Blue MBA, please visit: cbs.dk/bluemba
*First published in Ports of Denmark, May 2026.
