Source: Adapted from Drewry Shipping Consultants and Port Equipment Manufacturers Association.
An inventory of terminal automation reveals a rapidly evolving situation. Although the information is likely to be partial and incomplete, 71 container terminals around the world were either fully or partially automated as of mid-2024. Considering that there are about 850 container terminals of relevant size and function, this represents 8.3% of all main container terminals but 14.7% of the total global footprint in terms of hectares. While the average container terminal size was 51.7 hectares, it was 74.7 hectares for automated terminals, underlining the scale propensity for automation.