Breakbulk industry warily wades into AI

The adoption of artificial intelligence in the breakbulk sector is hampered by a negative mindset among shippers and freight forwarders, with experts warning that stakeholders must be part of the solution to harness the benefits.

An energy industry shipper told the Journal of Commerce that reticence to use AI in the breakbulk industry stems from data issues. While the body of data is there, the uniqueness of global industrial projects lessens the opportunities to train AI compared to data sets from a standardized industry, such as containers.

“There is not enough of a body of breakbulk-specific data in AI platforms for it to be informed,” the source said. “We have a long way to go before we can trust it.”

Dr. Khaldon Al Karmadi, associate at Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge in the UK and a mentor for agentic AI entrepreneurs in the supply chain, agreed that AI in breakbulk is still limited by the lack of industry-specific, structured data.

“The industry’s caution is understandable given the high operational and commercial risks involved,” he told the Journal of Commerce.

Grant Hunter, chief digital officer and director for products at shipping association Bimco, said there is no shortage of data; what's missing is quality data. “Without that, the responses from AI are going to be largely unreliable," he said. "So, yes, we need to first trust the data to subsequently trust the AI.”

Hunter said the breakbulk industry is wise to not to blindly accept predictions from AI as an indication of market direction.

“AI is an assistive technology and can help people in the decision-making process by analyzing in a very short time what previously took days or weeks,” he said.

However, market volatility is also sometimes caused by human sentiment, which is not something that AI can easily predict, Hunter added. But with the input of industry stakeholders, AI could transform breakbulk operations and processes.

“AI...can do amazing things given the right data and prompts,” Hunter said.

But people must be willing to work with it, recognize the benefits it can bring, and not see it simply as a threat.

“The ones who successfully harness AI and use it effectively will gain a competitive edge in the short term,” said Hunter.

Outputs need to be challenged

A project cargo freight forwarder said that users still need to understand the outputs of AI to find the anomalies. “AI will...enable us to be more effective, but it will not replace experience,” the source said.

A project cargo shipper confirmed they were actively using AI to compare contracts. But another said that large engineering, procurement and construction companies were still trying to work out the compliance puzzle, determining what can be entered into an AI tool, what can’t, and what’s proprietary.

“We have a long way to go to trust AI because all of the equipment that is manufactured is so complex and takes years to prepare. Also, the designs are proprietary,” said the shipper. “We cannot trust AI to give us a solution of how to lift a ship cover, for example.”

Al Karmadi said he sees an opportunity for AI-powered supply chain risk management. “Better risk visibility can help the breakbulk industry make safer decisions, improve resilience, and enable more investable global trade,” he said.

Hope was also placed in the next generation of breakbulk industry professionals, with one shipper explaining they are better at trusting AI and identifying use cases.

Al Karmadi agreed that breakbulk stakeholders need to trust the process of incremental progress in AI use, alongside creating “little incentives to use digital tools which produce structured data.”

This article was originally published by the Journal of Commerce on Aug. 18, 2026.