Why Maritime’s AI Future Depends on Data, Integration, and Collaboration

Why Maritime’s AI Future Depends on Data, Integration, and Collaboration

 by Ailsa Mottershead

 2 February 2026

Dr Oscar Pernia is Chief Technology Officer at NextPort

Throughout his 25 years of maritime experience, Dr Oscar Pernia has left a trail of innovation across terminal operations, shipping lines and technology providers. Oscar is a true innovator, and throughout his career has implemented the Mediterranean’s first semi-automated terminal at Hanjin Shipping in Algeciras, led automation and AI strategy at Navis in San Francisco & Rotterdam and built TIL’s global automation and digitalisation department at MSC. Today, Oscar is Chief Technology Officer at NextPort, supporting digital twin technology for ports and terminals, connecting processes, data, and systems. 

Oscar has noticed a drastic shift in technology advancements pre- and post-Pandemic.“Before the Pandemic, the industry was pushing for a big change, but now it’s the other way around, technology progress and technology availability are pushing the change.” Originally, industry operators and end users were forced to deal with archaic software, and outdated ways of working were an everyday occurrence. It was only when providers were forced to adapt to remote working that technology improved, enabling new paradigms. 

Nowadays, with advances in AI, automation and vessel connectivity, technology providers have the means to create more complex, web-based software and have even created opportunities for traditionally land-based technology providers to move into the shipping domain. Oscar explains, “Technology is now, I would say it has become faster than us, faster than the change that we can accommodate. It is key we enable the future of work for the maritime industry and require integration and organisational enablement.” 

The Data Behind AI 

AI is, without a doubt, the biggest enabler of innovation in maritime that we’ve seen in the 21st century to date. It has given shipping the potential to streamline every aspect of operations and business; it has also given technology providers the opportunity to enhance platforms and tools through automated operations and data analysis and next frontiers by Agentic AI for virtual assistants and AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). 

Despite this, AI is far from perfect, and Oscar is cautious of the quality of some AI products on the market today. “I think that, still in our industry, we are far from leveraging the AI potential because data foundation is lacking.” Oscar likens AI to a house; without a solid foundation of data in place first, it is difficult to build a solid AI product. 

“In the last five years, I have seen a quantum leap in the acceptance of next-generation solutions – with ChatGPT by OpenAI or Gemini by Google helped democratise AI: but also the foundation is rapidly maturing as with Data terminology ontology, meaning the standardisation of data components but also the

interoperability between systems.” In our Industry, this has largely been due to enablers such as the IMO, TIC4.0 or DCSA working to standardise data across the industry. 

Collaborate Or Fall Behind 

Over time, shipping companies and terminals have built their own digital ecosystems, often with no consideration of how the other operates. This has resulted in siloed applications across vessels, terminals and land-based logistics nodes. “The whole ecosystem is very fragmented, a kind of Frankenstein approach in many cases.” 

With the emergence of new technology comes a wave of new vendors, all battling against each other for clients; however, Oscar cautions that the entrance of newbies in the Industry is necessary but not collaborative enough so far due to lack of interoperability, “Sometimes we are competing when we should be augmenting each other… Systems have to be able to speak the same language.” 

The leading technology providers are those building open architectures and APIs to support integrations to external platforms, but even then, these vendors struggle to see the bigger picture. “There is no one single system that can support the whole process; that’s why we need to focus on standardisation and interoperability.” 

For Oscar, the future of innovation isn’t in new technology, but perfecting what we already have. Standardising and sharing the data we collect between departments, organisations and the wider industry.