Digital adoption and efficiency in the maritime industry

The COVID-19 pandemic has augmented pre-existing digitalization and environmental trends. In the maritime industry, one of the marked impacts of the pandemic is how the regard for technology has changed. There is now greater appetite and acceptance of digital solutions across the industry. This study investigates the ways the adoption of a series of digital technologies impact shipping firms’ efficiency, that will shed light on how industry stakeholders may derive value from data solutions, for making better operational decisions. We use cross-country firm-level data to evaluate the efficiency effects of maritime industry-level digital adoption. The results provide robust proof that working in a digitalized ecosystem is a way to promote efficiency, though not to the same extent across shipping firms and divisions. Impacts are relatively stronger in water transport activities than warehousing/support activities for transportation. Digital technologies may add to the growing diffusion in efficiency across shipping firms.