Unveiling barriers to IoT adoption in the maritime freight industry

The global shipping industry is the cornerstone of contemporary culture and the economy. Swift trade facilitated by efficient and dependable shipping services forms the backbone of the rapid exchange of goods and ideas, making the availability of certain now-ubiquitous products possible. Maritime cargo strategies enable businesses to seamlessly and expeditiously transport their goods across nations and borders. Integrating Internet of Things (IoT) technology is a promising solution to enhance these operations. IoT refers to a network of interconnected devices, objects, or “things” that communicate and share data with each other over the internet. The primary purpose of IoT is to enable these devices to collect, exchange, and analyze information, creating a seamless and intelligent network. This paper addresses the barriers that organizations may face when contemplating the implementation of IoT in maritime freight operations. To identify and prioritize these challenges, a multi-criteria decision-making approach has been employed specifically the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), to rank these factors in descending order of their significance.