A Literature Review on Energy Management Systems and Their Application on Harbour Activities

The growing global concern for sustainability and energy conservation has led to the adoption of energy management systems to minimise the impacts of energy intensive processes. This study reviews the evolution, the applications, and implementation techniques of energy management systems with an emphasis on harbour operations. Through the mapping of the research on energy management systems post-1973, the literature review demonstrated a substantial transformation of the systems from basic monitoring in the building sector to complex artificial intelligence analyses in smart and microgrids, industries, renewable energy sources integration, transportation, and harbours. Initial broad search (1973–2025) identified 22,003 EMS-related records; targeted port–EMS queries yielded 214 records, of which 139 unique records remained after de-duplication and 78 full texts were assessed. Finally, 27 studies were included in the quantitative synthesis. A meta-analysis in conjunction with an article review, and a weighted sum model coupled with sensitivity analyses revealed promising results for harbour energy management system implementation in terms of peak/load shifting, on-shore power supply, and real-time energy monitoring. The findings showed that energy management system efficacy is linked to maturity levels and strategic deployment of the measures/policies in each stage.