Adoption of digital technologies in the maritime industry: Insights from Singapore

Following the global trend, diverse digital tools are being adopted in the maritime industry. This development is especially relevant for Singapore, an island maritime nation of great significance in global trade. Therefore, understanding the maritime stakeholders’ perspectives is crucial in identifying critical factors affecting digital technology adoption. This study uses a mixed-methods approach that comprises in-depth interviews with three interviewees and a preliminary survey with 30 respondents. All respondents have encountered adopting digital technologies at their companies. The analyses reveal that the maritime industry recognizes digitalization as essential in addressing key challenges, including costs, cybersecurity, adaption to new technology, and sustainability, among others. Enabling policies such as standardization, cybersecurity measures, and information sharing are required at both industry and operational levels. In addition, digitization is identified as the most important trend, or the most disruptive technology, impacting Singapore’s maritime industry in the long-term, followed by big data analytics. This investigation highlights the growing push for digital tool adoption in the maritime sector, addressing its unique characteristics. The preliminary framework contributes to addressing potential challenges and developing strategies for successful digitalization implementation. Highlights The maritime industry is increasingly adopting diverse digital technologies in response to global trends. A mixed-methods approach, including in-depth interviews and a survey, was used Key challenges identified were digitalisation costs, cybersecurity challenges, adaptation to disruptive technologies and sustainability issues Main themes identified are drivers, organisational willingness and digital readiness Enabling policies are required at both industry and operational levels