Marine transport companies are among the most active adopters of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for procurement, supplier risk and sustainability management, according to new research from Achilles.
The supply chain risk management company surveyed 2,805 organisations across Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Middle East, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK, finding that 37% are already piloting or using AI in procurement, supplier risk or sustainability management, while only 2% have fully integrated the technology across their organisations.
Marine transport recorded an AI adoption rate of 56%, second only to the Information Technology sector at 62%, compared with the all-sector average of 37%.
The research found that the most common AI applications include process automation, virtual assistants and chatbots, and applications for supplier management and risk mitigation. Organisations cited improved process efficiency, reduced manual workloads and better data-driven decision-making as the main benefits.
Despite these positive signs in maritime, Achilles says AI deployment remains constrained by poor supplier data, shortages of AI and data science skills, integration challenges with legacy systems and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms, and a lack of strategic focus.
“AI is no longer a talking point in procurement; it is being put to work,” said Adam Whitfield, Head of Global Compliance and ESG at Achilles.
“With more than a third of organisations surveyed already piloting or using AI in supplier risk and sustainability, the question has shifted from whether to adopt, to how to do it well.”
“The harder truth in the data is that full deployment is still rare. AI delivers value in supplier risk management only when it sits on trusted data, clear governance and the ability to fit into existing procurement processes. If the foundations are wrong, AI simply scales the problem.”
