By Peter Phillips and Martin White, Co-Founders of Maritime Passport
The maritime industry’s digital transformation is moving at two very different speeds. While tech forward thinking vessel operators and flag states deploy sophisticated fleet management systems and early-stage AI tools, other sectors have been slower at adopting new technology so the picture is very fragmented.
This divide has created a fertile landscape for tech startups. Over the past few years, a wave of software providers has entered shipping, each promising a “silver bullet” to solve complex operational challenges. But there is a fundamental flaw in many of these pitches, as the majority of these developers have never worked a day in maritime so do not understand the structure and culture of the sector – nor of seafarers.
Shipping is not just another logistics vertical, it is critical infrastructure for world trade. The industry is a very specialist, highly regulated, and deeply nuanced global industry and its workforce is highly skilled and these competencies are certified. When tech companies attempt to copy and paste solutions from other industries, they inevitably run into the reality of shipping’s unique operational pain points. From multi-jurisdictional compliance to off-grid connectivity and decentralised documentation, outside companies coming in with generic digital solutions routinely fail to grasp the industry’s day-to-day intricacies.
To achieve real digital maturity, maritime leaders must shift away from untested software hype and instead rely on tech partners who combine prior industry knowledge with tried-and-tested technology. This will not only reduce the likelihood of someone getting it catastrophically wrong, but also ensure that the partnership is one that they can trust to run for the lifecycle of the vessel and beyond.
Identity and documentation verification
Few areas demonstrate the need for maritime native tech better than crew document management. For decades, seafarers have carried the burden of manually sourcing, filing, and verifying the sheer volume of documentation required to prove their entitlement to work. Certifications, STCW endorsements, medical fitness certificates, identity proofs, and visas are frequently scattered across physical folders, email threads, and fragmented databases.
When a seafarer signs on to a vessel, verifying these credentials becomes an administrative bottleneck for shipping operators, crewing agencies, and flag administrations alike. When we are looking at maritime’s digital transformation, iIt is important that seafarers do not get left behind and also have access to the benefits that this technology brings.
Digital wallets are already commonplace on shore for contactless payments, boarding passes etc – this technology would be so beneficial to crew, especially as it cuts through the high administrative burden of finding, collating and sharing personal credentials, certificates and other details to prove work eligibility. As an organisation founded by an ex-seafarer and someone who has a historic legacy in maritime, we know how important it is for seafarers to have access to these tools without losing control of their personal data and privacy, which is why we believe that this aspect must be given particular attention.
Privacy and security risks
As AI and digital systems proliferate, data security and privacy have become paramount. Yet many standard digital tools on the market rely on basic web databases or commercial data-aggregation models. These architectures introduce serious privacy risks when handling sensitive personal credentials. We believe that software that has been tried and tested and can say – with authority – that it offers true safety and security would be paramount.
Trust isn’t a feature you can bolt on, it’s earned through a track record, and that is precisely what the maritime industry needs from its technology partners. Operators don’t just need software that works on day one, they need a partner who understands the realities of a seafarer’s working life, the weight of regulatory compliance, and the operational pressures of running a vessel across jurisdictions and decades of service. That kind of understanding cannot be reverse-engineered from a generic tech playbook.
As the industry continues its uneven march toward digital maturity, the operators who thrive will be the ones who choose partners over products. A trusted partner brings maritime-native expertise, a proven security architecture, and a genuine commitment to protecting the people at the heart of the industry, its seafarers. That is the real silver bullet: not a single piece of software, but a relationship built on credibility, continuity, and care, one that can be trusted to serve the vessel, its crew, and its operator for the long haul.
Maritime Passport are Platinum sponsors of the Demystifying Digitalisation and AI in Maritime project. Photo by Zulfugar Karimov on Unsplash
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