As marketing ratchets up for next April’s big annual dry bulk summit, Splash sits down with top names attending the event. As artificial intelligence gains ground across shipping, Janani Yagnamurthy believes the real breakthroughs will not come from broad, all-purpose models, but from highly tailored, shipping-specific intelligence. The vice president of product and strategic growth at Marcura says vertical AI — built on chartering logic, port realities and operational risk — is where the dry bulk sector will unlock the biggest gains. “In shipping, vertical AI developed with chartering logic, port context, and operational risk patterns offers greater advantages than generic AI,” she says. Over the next year, Yagnamurthy expects AI-driven decision support tools to transform everyday commercial and operational choices. “The biggest breakthroughs in dry bulk shipping will come from AI-driven decision support, voyage planning optimisation, and charter party intelligence,” she predicts. According to Yagnamurthy, the industry is moving beyond simply digitising paperwork. “Operators are moving beyond digitising documents toward extracting real-time insights from them,” she says. Tools that can automatically read charter parties, identify risks, estimate port turnaround times and benchmark performance will increasingly shape commercial strategy. Geneva Dry has become the place where commercial shipping meets new digital innovation She also points to progress in data sharing at the port interface. “We will also see major steps in port data standardisation and API-driven connectivity,” she reckons. As terminals, agents and owners begin to share real-time information more freely, operators will gain a clearer view of congestion, readiness and constraints. “This will significantly reduce avoidable waiting time, especially around NOR and shifting delays.” Environmental pressure is also accelerating innovation, with compliance tools evolving into commercial decision engines. “CO₂ optimisation models will mature quickly,” she says. “With CII tightening, dry bulk players will adopt emissions calculators and scenario tools that embed weather routing, speed advice, and fuel-use projections not as compliance tools but as day-to-day commercial decision aids.” Asked whether the sector has truly grasped the potential of AI, Yagnamurthy is cautiously optimistic. “Although adoption is still uneven, shipping has recognised the potential of AI,” she argues. Leading companies are already applying it across data normalisation, contract analysis, claims and port cost prediction, seeing measurable time savings and fewer financial surprises. However, she warns that many still underestimate what is required to truly benefit. “The significance of training environments, domain-specific models, and structured data is often overlooked by businesses,” she says. For the next stage of adoption to succeed, AI must move from experimental projects to systems that are embedded and trusted. That shift is supported by a changing attitude to investment. “Though unevenly, the mindset has changed dramatically,”Yagnamurthy says. Increasingly, operators understand the cost of inaction. “The cost of not investing is significantly higher than the cost of digital tools, including off-hire, demurrage, misread clauses, and inefficiencies.” Clearer returns are now visible, through fewer claims, standardised procedures, faster decisions and improved market insight. Still, she notes that some