ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Ocean Solutions
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1627544
This article is part of the Research TopicBig Data and AI for Sustainable Maritime OperationsView all 4 articles
Blockchain in Maritime:Applications, Effects and Challenges
Provisionally accepted
Zhao Li1*
Yongqiang Sun2- 1Wuchang Shouyi University, Wuhan, China
- 2China Waterborne Transport Research Institute, Beijing, China
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The shipping market involves multiple stakeholders, including cargo owners, shipping companies, and maritime authorities. To prevent issues such as information concealment and privacy breaches, these stakeholders often establish complex and multi-layered data exchange processes, which significantly reduce the operational efficiency of the shipping market. Decentralized blockchain technology can prevent data tampering, thereby establishing an effective consensus mechanism among multiple parties. This paper first summarizes the application scenarios of blockchain technology in the shipping market, including supply chain management, smart contracts, port management, crew management, marine insurance, and environmental protection.Subsequently, using real-world cases such as TradeLens, CargoX, COSCO SHIPPING Hi ECO, and Insurwave, the advantages of blockchain technology in enhancing shipping efficiency and reducing costs are elaborated. Finally, the challenges of applying blockchain technology in the shipping market, from both technical and regulatory perspectives, are outlined.
Keywords: Maritime, Blockchain, traffic management, Shipping company, sustainability
Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhao Li, Wuchang Shouyi University, Wuhan, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.