Call for paper: Sustainability and Digitalisation in Maritime Logistics

Sustainability and Digitalisation in Maritime Logistics

The maritime logistics sector is undergoing a rapid transformation driven by urgent sustainability goals and accelerated digital innovation. Global regulatory pressures, such as the IMO’s decarbonisation targets, and societal demand for greener supply chains have pushed the industry to rethink traditional operations. At the same time, technologies like blockchain, AI, IoT, and digital twins are being adopted to enhance visibility, efficiency, and decision-making. Despite this momentum, the academic literature has largely examined sustainability and digitalisation as separate domains, with limited integration of both in maritime logistics contexts. Recent high-impact publications and conference themes increasingly highlight this intersection, yet comprehensive studies remain scarce. The COVID-19 pandemic and global disruptions have further exposed the fragility of maritime supply chains, reinforcing the need for sustainable and digitally resilient solutions. This special issue responds directly to these trends, filling a critical gap in scholarly research while offering timely insights for industry transformation and policy development.

This Special Issue on “Sustainability and Digitalisation in Maritime Logistics” aims to advance scholarly understanding of the transformative impact of digital technologies on sustainable practices within the maritime logistics sector. While sustainability and digitalisation have been studied independently, there remains a significant gap in integrated research exploring their intersection in maritime contexts. This special issue provides a timely platform for original contributions that investigate how emerging technologies, such as blockchain, AI, IoT, and big data, can drive environmental performance, operational efficiency, and policy innovation in maritime logistics. By bridging theoretical development with practical applications, the issue will offer fresh insights into digital sustainability strategies, metrics, and frameworks that can guide industry and policymaking. It will bring together interdisciplinary research from operations, logistics, technology, and environmental management, offering a unique and holistic perspective not currently found in existing literature. This issue will serve as a key reference for future research and practice in the field.

List of topic areas

In collaboration with the IAME 2026 conference, the Maritime Business Review journal is calling for research contributions for a Special Issue titled “Sustainability and digitalisation in maritime logistics”. We invite submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics: