AI‐Enabled Smart Ports and Sustainable Maritime Logistics: A Bibliometric Analysis of Intellectual Structure and Emerging Trends

In the context of maritime logistics, artificial intelligence (AI) holds significant potential in optimizing operations, enhancing environmental sustainability, and advancing digital transformation, making it a valuable asset for the industry. Over the last few years, there has been growing interest in research on the application of artificial intelligence in smart ports, green shipping, and maritime digital systems. This study aims to systematically examine the development, intellectual structure, and emerging research themes of artificial intelligence applications in smart ports and sustainable maritime logistics. The bibliometric review method has been adopted for this study, where 497 journal articles and review papers were analysed for the period of 2018 to 2026. A total of 1080 records were initially identified, 591 remained after document‐type and language filtering, and 497 publications were retained following title and abstract screening based on the PRISMA process. Bibliometric analysis was performed using VOSviewer and Bibliometrix software, and various thresholds were established for keyword occurrence, co‐authorship, co‐citation, and bibliographic coupling analysis. The results show a strong concentration of research around artificial intelligence, machine‐learning, smart ports, automation, maritime logistics, sustainability, and decarbonization. The analysis also indicates the development of interconnected research areas involving smart port and digital transformation, AI‐supported maritime operations, machine‐learning and forecasting, and sustainable shipping and emission reduction. Research output was predominantly from technologically advanced maritime countries, with China showing the strongest publication and international collaboration presence. While numerous studies point to positive results, empirical validation and utilization of AI applications in real port and shipping environments are still not widely realized. This work summarizes the latest growth in this related research and categorizes gaps to guide additional investigation, particularly in the areas of empirical validation, cross‐regional contrasts, and data governance. The study is limited to Scopus‐indexed English‐language journal articles and reviews, while publications from 2026 represent a partial publication year. The results of this study can help researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers in the future development of sustainable and intelligent maritime logistics.