A Qualitative Exploration of Extent of Digitalization in Shipping & Logistics sector.

Shipping is one of the major transport of carrying goods with 90 % of world trade cargo was carried through ships. It incorporates complex flow of goods through its different elements ships, freight forwarders, logistics and ports. Shipping has been considered as somewhat conventional industry to adopt the technological advancements compare to other industries with containerization was being last disruptive change in shipping industry. This tendency is changing in the view of scope of digitalization and its applications on maritime industry. This study will help to identify the extent of digitalization on shipping and logistics industry and its concluding impact on optimizing the supply chain efficiency. Different technologies and their applications has been shown which are either being implemented or already in testing phase. In this study discussion on initiatives taken by different shipping companies and port organizations to incorporate technologies in their operations and how these initiatives are optimizing their functions and their effect on overall efficiency of their operations is also being discussed. Along with that the challenges has also been identified while implementing these applications. This study will help in understanding the future of shipping and its evolvement from a traditional structure of logistics complexities to a digital framework with all the elements interconnected with each other by information flow and shared data. This qualitative research followed a grounded theory approach in which 6 participants associated with different elements of maritime sector from seafarers to logistics consultant were interviewed. The interview carried out were semi structured where open ended questions were asked to collect data which helped in understanding the current scenarios of shipping and recognizing the initiatives that are being taken to transform the shipping and logistics industry to a digital framework.