Information exchange and block chains in short sea maritime supply chains

This paper describes the challenges of the maritime supply chain compared to land transport and discusses the new digital initiatives to simplify the processes and enable a better plan for the entire supply chain. First, the background is outlined with an example of the extensive admin processes in maritime transport compared to road transport, followed by a case example presenting the processes of a booking. The case study concludes that the lack of integration is costly in terms of both admin resources, as well as lost capacity on some ships and missing capacity on others. Finally, the evolution of new digital initiatives are discussed, both in general and in terms of competing “alliances” as seen in the airline industry. The paper concludes that the information exchange in the maritime industry has moved drastically in the last 3 years and that one initiative, TradeLens, seems to have gained a position as maritime standard despite a problematic start with many competing initiatives.