March reflections: Maritime has a data problem… just not the one you think | LinkedIn
Since posting that article, the response and conversations around it have been incredibly interesting. One thing that became very clear very quickly is that many people across the industry already understand the problem.
Data is fragmented. Systems don’t speak to each other. Processes remain manual. And too much information still sits in silos.
But naturally, that led me onto another question: If everybody knows the problem exists… who is actually trying to solve it?
That question eventually led me to a conversation with Thomas Bagge , CEO of the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA).
And honestly, after speaking with him, I came away with a very different perspective on where the industry currently is in its digitalisation journey.
So, what actually is DCSA?
For anyone unfamiliar, DCSA is a non-profit organisation founded in 2019 by some of the world’s largest container shipping lines, with members now including:
• MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company
• CMA CGM
• HMM
• Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp.
• ZIM Integrated Shipping Services
• Pacific International Lines (PTE) Ltd
Together, those members represent around 75% of global container trade. (dcsa.org)
Their mission sounds simple on paper:
To create common digital standards that allow systems across container shipping to communicate with each other.
In reality, the problem they are trying to solve is enormous.
Because when you strip a lot of the conversations around AI, platforms, analytics and transformation back to basics, one issue continues to sit underneath almost everything:
The industry still lacks standardisation.
“Shipping is a 4,000-year-old industry”
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation with Thomas was hearing his perspective on why change has historically been so difficult.
He made several comments that genuinely stuck with me.
“Shipping is probably one of the oldest occupations in the world.”
“The international trade system has evolved into how it works today, it was not designed”
“The bill of lading is effectively a 1600s document.”
That framing explains a lot.
Unlike industries such as aviation or fintech, shipping didn’t grow up digitally interconnected.
Airlines, for example, evolved alongside organisations like IATA, creating industry wide collaboration and standardisation relatively early in their development.
Shipping didn’t.
Instead, companies built their own systems, their own definitions, their own processes and their own ways of working.
And over time, that created an ecosystem full of disconnected technology.
The problem isn’t just technology
One thing I appreciated about the conversation was that Thomas didn’t position this purely as a technology issue.
In fact, he was very clear that culture is just as important.
He referenced a major digital transformation programme he worked on at Maersk, where one of the biggest lessons learned was that a lack of standardisation and willingness to change were elements preventing the business from fully realising the intended value.
He also made another point that I thought was particularly important:
“How do you create the right incentives for the industry to change?”
That aligns almost perfectly with what I’ve been hearing elsewhere in the market.
Many organisations are investing heavily into digital transformation.
But technology is still often being layered on top of fragmented workflows, legacy systems and inconsistent operational processes.
As Thomas put it: “There’s not always a lot of incentive for people to change.”
And honestly, that feels like one of the biggest barriers across the industry right now.
Why standardisation matters more than people realise
One of the simplest examples we discussed was ETA.
Estimated Time of Arrival.
A concept that sounds incredibly straightforward.
Five years ago companies defined it differently, calculated it differently and structured it differently inside their systems.
At the time, the nine members of DCSA had six different definitions of when a vessel had arrived in port.
Individually, those differences seem small.
At scale, they create huge interoperability problems.
And this is exactly where DCSA comes in.
The organisation has been developing an industry blueprint, standardised APIs and data frameworks that allow businesses to exchange information in a consistent way.
Historically, integrations between shipping companies and customers could take months.
Thomas described how businesses would spend months mapping data fields between systems manually before they could even begin developing, testing and eventually exchanging data.
Today, through DCSA standards, many businesses can connect in hours instead of months. One of DCSA’s members has seen a 70% reduction in the time it takes to integrate with its customers.
That’s a significant shift.
And importantly, these standards are largely open sourced and freely available because DCSA believes charging for them would create further barriers to adoption. (dcsa.org)
Quietly, a lot of progress has already happened
One thing I found particularly interesting was the contrast between perception and reality.
A lot of the conversations I’ve had in maritime tech so far have carried a fairly pessimistic tone around digitalisation.
The view that progress is slow. That adoption is poor. That transformation is years away.
Thomas acknowledged that himself.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
But while some of that pessimism is certainly understandable, the reality underneath seems more nuanced.
DCSA now supports over 200 million standardised API calls every month across the industry.
Companies including IKEA, Samsung, Mercedes and Nestlé are already using DCSA standards in practice. (dcsa.org)
That doesn’t mean the problem is solved.
Far from it.
But it does suggest the industry may be further along than many people realise.
Why this matters for innovation
One point Thomas made that I found particularly compelling was around innovation.
In industries like fintech, standardisation created the foundation for innovation.
As he put it:
“The amount of innovation you are seeing in the fintech industry is happening partly because small companies know what to build for.”
Because once companies knew what to build against, smaller businesses could move quickly.
APIs became predictable. Data became accessible. Interoperability became achievable.
That environment enabled companies like Revolut to emerge and scale rapidly.
Shipping hasn’t really had that foundation historically.
And that’s why DCSA feels important.
Not because standardisation itself is exciting.
But because it creates the conditions that allow innovation to happen properly.
Collaboration in a competitive industry
Another thing I found fascinating was hearing how difficult collaboration initially was.
Thomas joked that, like banking, container shipping competitors are not exactly natural collaborators.
One story he shared genuinely made me laugh.
A former board member from financial services apparently once said:
“The banks in London compete so fiercely they wouldn’t p*** on each other if one was on fire.”
Thomas said shipping was not all that different.
But over time, DCSA has managed to bring together organisations that compete aggressively commercially, while still aligning on common infrastructure and standards.
That feels important.
Because no single company can solve interoperability on its own.
And without collaboration, fragmentation simply continues.
What does shipping look like in 5 to 10 years?
One of my final questions to Thomas was what success actually looks like.
If DCSA succeeds, what changes?
His answer was interesting because it wasn’t focused on changing shipping itself.
“The fundamentals of shipping will remain the same.”
Ships will still move cargo. Ports will still exist. The fundamentals of trade remain the same.
What changes is everything around it.
The paperwork. The customer experience. The movement of information. The ability for systems to communicate seamlessly.
The vision is a world where trade becomes genuinely digital.
Where processes that still rely heavily on PDFs, emails and manual workflows become standardised, connected and automated.
And honestly, after the conversations I’ve had over the past couple of months, that feels badly needed.
My takeaways so far
What I took away most from this conversation is that maritime digitalisation is not just about building more technology.
It’s about creating the foundations that allow technology to work together.
Without interoperability, standardisation and collaboration, even the best platforms struggle to deliver their full value.
And perhaps most importantly, it reinforced something I’m hearing repeatedly across the market:
The industry doesn’t necessarily lack innovation.
It lacks alignment.
That feels like the real challenge.
And organisations like DCSA are quietly doing a lot of the work required to change that.
If my first article was about the data problem in maritime, then this conversation felt like the natural next step.
Because before data can truly become useful at scale, the industry first needs to speak the same language.
And that’s exactly what DCSA is trying to achieve.
Sources & Further Reading:
DCSA Official Website: DCSA Website
DCSA Standards Overview: DCSA Standards
DCSA Track & Trace Standards: Track & Trace Standards