By 2026, port certifications will no longer be a box-ticking exercise. The maritime sector is shifting toward rigorous, data-driven standards that verify how a port actually operates: its digital maturity, environmental performance, cybersecurity readiness, and day-to-day service quality. Traditional frameworks like ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are being updated with stronger demands for traceable data, while new requirements such as ISO 27001 and enhanced Blue Flag criteria are becoming mainstream. At the same time, modern certifications like SMCert are emerging to fill the gap by assessing what older schemes ignore — AI readiness, operational transparency, smart-system integration, and real sustainability reporting. Ports that meet these standards will have a clear commercial advantage. Ports that don’t will struggle to compete for boaters, charter partners, insurers, and public funding.