Havenjobs

How we turned AI into a job matchmaker for Port of Antwerp-Bruges

How we turned AI in a job matchmaker for Port of Antwerp-Bruges

Port of Antwerp-Bruges, the second largest port in Europe, offers more than 300 liner services to over 800 destinations, enhancing its essential worldwide connectivity. As an integral lifeline for the Belgian economy, the port leads in sustainable development, demonstrating a steadfast commitment to the circular economy and setting a goal to become carbon neutral by 2050. Port of Antwerp-Bruges supports around 164,000 jobs and has recently launched Havenjobs, a digital platform that consolidates all job opportunities across the port's sectors.

Results of this partnership

success rate in filtering interim job postings with generative AI

95%

margin for "grey zone Havenjobs" and false positives

The challenge

To stay competitive and grow, the port and related industries continuously seek new talent. However, many locals are unaware of the diverse job opportunities available, ranging from operational roles to administrative and technical positions.

Previous smaller efforts from various stakeholders only provided fragmented job listings, leaving no central platform for port-related jobs.

To address this, the Port Authority launched "Havenjobs," a digital platform that consolidates all job opportunities across the port's sectors. The initiative is a collaboration with partners like: VDAB, Voka Antwerp-Waasland and West Flanders, Alfaport Voka, APZI, Maatschappij Linkerscheldeoever, CEWEZ, City of Antwerp and Bruges, Havencentrum
of the Province of Antwerp and TUA West.

However, the initial version struggled to accurately filter jobs coming from interim offices. Traditional data, like NACEBEL codes and postal codes, let irrelevant jobs through, making it hard to display genuine interim port jobs, which are crucial for operations.

To filter 15,000 monthly vacancies from interim offices and display only relevant jobs on havenjobs.com, we needed more refined filtering based on job descriptions. This was crucial for serving the platform’s 2,700 monthly users and ensuring the Port's competitiveness in attracting talent. Manual filtering was not feasible, so an automated, accurate solution using generative AI was implemented.

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The solution

Objectives & strategy

Accuracy: Enhance the platform's ability to filter and display only relevant interim job postings using advanced AI technology.
Reliability: Ensure that all genuine port-related interim jobs are correctly included.
Efficiency: Streamline the job matching process to reduce irrelevant postings and
improve user satisfaction.

Creative approach

We integrated Generative AI powered by large language models (LLMs) on top of the existing filtering. This AI enhancement allowed the platform to analyze the context and content of each job posting.

Contextual AI Filtering: The AI layer understood nuances, ensuring only port-relevant interim jobs enriched the platform.
Improving Accuracy: By analyzing job descriptions and industry-specific terms, the AI distinguished relevant port jobs from unrelated ones.
Ongoing Optimization: Continuous AI refinements improved job matching accuracy to 95%, ensuring consistently relevant interim jobs.

Conclusion

The AI-driven filtering in Havenjobs improved job matching accuracy and reliability. This enhancement is crucial in connecting the right talent with the right opportunities, helping Port of Antwerp-Bruges maintain its leadership in the maritime industry.