A study on the state of technology in ocean shipping indicates that 'urgent' investment in new technologies is needed in the coming year.
A Technology Outlook Survey carried out by INTTRA, a multi-carrier e-commerce network for the ocean shipping industry, questioned 251 shippers, forwarders and carriers from around the world on the technological challenges and priorities they faced.
Almost 90 per cent of those surveyed believed that investment in new technologies in the coming year was either 'very urgent' or 'somewhat urgent'.
Improving supply chain visibility capabilities to integrate higher quality data was the top ranked priority, closely followed by utilisation of big data and analytics.
Almost half the respondents said that the ocean shipping industry was playing catch up in terms of technology adoption, and nearly a third believed it was falling behind or making little progress. Just 23 per cent thought the shipping industry was leading the way with technology.
Lack of standardisation and the absence of agreed standards across the supply chain were also cited as key challenges, hindering automation and optimisation in the movement of goods, while integration of supply chain partners and access to real-time supply chain data were also mentioned as areas of significant interest
The INTTRA Technology Outlook Survey was launched in September 2014. Respondents answered seven questions ranging from technology priorities to challenges in the marketplace.
INTTRA works with 53 leading carriers and NVOCCs, 109 software alliance partners, as well as their customers, to streamline and standardise shipping processes worldwide through a network of more than 220,000 shipping professionals. Over 550,000 container orders are initiated on the INTTRA platform each week, representing 22 per cent of global ocean container trade.
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