Improving cargo data exchange is as much about people as it is about technology. This insight explores how culture, behaviour, and long-established working practices influence data sharing, often overriding the benefits offered by newer digital solutions.
Cultural and behavioural factors play a role in limiting data exchange as the maritime industry is traditionally risk-averse, shaped by long-established operational practices, hierarchical structures, and an understandable preference for proven methods over untested ones.
A lack of willingness to modernise due to cultural resistance and behavioural factors were some of the most frequently cited obstacles to improved data sharing. Respondents described these barriers as hesitation to change established workflows, internal resistance, preference for local KPIs over network-wide KPIs, lack of trust in partner data, fear of exposing operational weaknesses, and perceptions that carriers are usually not interested.
These statements show that even where technical capability exists, organisational behaviour continues to limit the adoption of improved data exchange practices. These views were expressed by both terminal and carrier respondents, suggesting that resistance to change is a shared challenge rather than the responsibility of one side.
Many respondents discussed data sharing as something that should be controlled or limited, rather than something that could actively make operations easier. As a result, familiar workflows are maintained, even when they create friction.
Cultural and behavioural factors play a role in limiting data exchange as the maritime industry is traditionally risk-averse, shaped by long-established operational practices, hierarchical structures, and an understandable preference for proven methods over untested ones.
As a Cargo Planner at a global shipping company observed, “the most resistance comes from people who are not tech-savvy, they are just used to their old ways.”
Maritime digitalisation efforts are slowed by isolated systems, insecure information sharing, and organisational reluctance to adopt new technologies. This slows the adoption of new tools even when the technology is readily available.
Many terminals and carriers remain hesitant to update workflows that have functioned for decades, and concerns about job security or organisational disruption only add to the resistance to digitalisation.
Even when new tools promise improvements, crews often revert to emails, calls, or manual checks if uncertainty arises. Maritime operations rely on routines which work under pressure, in low connectivity, during shift handovers, and under tight deadlines.
Overcoming this requires minimal disruption, effective pilots, and early wins. The system needs to mirror existing workflows whilst showing value in high-pressure situations. If these bases are covered, then users will adopt a new system because it works, not because they are told to.
The transition from the current state of affairs to a modern approach to cargo data exchange is not a technical challenge but rather a behavioural one. Pilots demonstrate value, and proven reliability will earn trust. Integration with existing systems minimises possible friction, and each step builds the credibility required to expand participation across terminals, carriers, and eventually shippers.
To discover what effective cargo data exchange looks like, and how it can be achieved in today’s port operations read the full Thought Leadership report ‘Rethinking Cargo Data Exchange: Modernising Communication Between Terminals, Carriers, and Vessels’ produced in partnership with Kaleris.
