Adoption of blockchain technology among emerging maritime businesses in KwaZulu-Natal

Abstract

This dissertation considered Blockchain deployment across maritime cluster, with reference to the needs and preferences of the KwaZulu-Natal marine businesses and industry. Blockchain is a novel digital concept and technology that was first employed in the maritime trade at the beginning of the 21st century, with the emergence of smart contracts in the form of an electronic Bill of Lading (eBL) running on top of the Ethereum platform. The maritime Blockchain digital database or shared ledger has the capacity to be applied to tracking and tracing of trade documentation and cargo, sea traffic management, port automation, crew and assets’ certifications, etc. Regardless of its great prospective, this technology is currently in its infancy, and it has yet to gain mainstream implementation and adoption in the maritime business and industry in general, and in the maritime sector in KwaZulu-Natal in particular. This study examined the barriers to wider adoption of the Blockchain technology, including their hierarchical structure in terms of impact and their interconnections. The Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM) and Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied Classification (MICMAC) tools were applied for this purpose. The case study revealed that the lack of government regulation of Blockchain technology was found to have the highest impact as an impediment to wider adoption of Blockchain, while the lack of early adopters in the maritime industry was found to have the lowest impact on the wider deployment of this emerging concept and technology. Examination of the constructs such as the actors' reluctance to distribute business information, lack of knowledge and understanding how Blockchain functions, lack of stakeholders' support, and high investment costs, revealed that they were linked at the same hierarchical level in terms of how they hindered wider adoption of this technology and could have a domino effect on widespread adoption. Given the accelerating pace of digitalization in the maritime sector, it is expected that this technology will have a considerably greater impact on the maritime ecosystem in the coming decades.