How to ask hard questions for ports and shipping lines

Europe has over 1400 ports and terminals, but not all of these locations have the same resources to develop or apply smart tools from a digitalisation viewpoint as is witnessed in major ports, such as Antwerp, Hamburg and Valencia. The Connect2SmallPorts group (an EU funded project) recently ran a workshop on Smart Tools for Small and Medium Ports, and SWARM was included in the lineup.

Anthony Howcroft, CEO of SWARM, looked at how the combinatorial explosion of data that accompanies digitization efforts can inhibit effective decision making, without the right approach and tools. “Most organizations that invest in digital technology expect to gain insights. To achieve this though, they still need to ask the right questions. What’s more, their intent is to use the insights to make better decisions - but often we reach a point where humans have too much information to make a choice.” Howcroft explains how SWARM has combined human goal setting and management with AI based optimization algorithms to save money in critical logistic functions such as Load Planning, or the movement of Empty Containers.

The presentation is available here to registered users of the connect2smallports portal, which is free to join.