Digitalizing maritime transport: digital innovation as a catalyzer of sustainable transformation

Abstract

This chapter provides a review of various digital innovations that directly or indirectly affect the maritime transportation sector. With a specific focus on port and fairway infrastructure management and efficient use, we also address a number of digital solutions for vessels and end-to-end logistic and supply chains. Given the fragmentation and a number of inefficiencies associated with maritime transport, we highlight the potential of digitalization to act as a catalyzer of its transformation towards more transparent and productive industry. We specifically discuss the changes in the respective business ecosystem that such transformation would bring and require. The discussion of challenges in terms of shifting power positions and the new requirements for secure data management are followed by the explication of required regulatory interventions. We conclude by summarizing the expected impact of a number of digital innovations described in this chapter on the efficiency and costs of maritime transportation.