The maritime economy, a cornerstone of global trade and economic development, is undergoing rapid transformation driven by technological advancements, sustainability challenges, and evolving regulatory frameworks. This study systematically organizes and analyses 827 scientific articles from the Web of Science, employing a hybrid methodology integrating Social Network Analysis (SNA), the Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) clustering algorithm, and large language models (LLMs) to identify key research themes and emerging trends. Through an iterative "human-in-the-loop" process, we refine the clustering process, resulting in six main clusters and 26 subclusters spanning topics such as governance and strategic management, forecasting and modelling, port operations, digital innovations, sustainability, and risk management. The results reveal a marked shift toward sustainability-oriented and technology-driven research, emphasizing the convergence of environmental responsibility, digital transformation, and operational resilience. The findings also highlight the growing role of autonomous technologies, big data analytics, and blockchain in reshaping maritime systems, while underscoring the need for adaptive governance frameworks and cross-sectoral collaboration. By offering a structured, data-driven overview of the maritime research ecosystem, this study contributes a novel methodological framework for bibliometric exploration and provides actionable insights for scholars, policymakers, and industry stakeholders seeking to advance innovation and sustainability in the maritime domain.
This paper performs a bibliometric and critical review on the topic “corrosion of additively manufactured steel” using RStudio software and its tools. Data for analysis is collected from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The critical review reveals mechanical behavior, corrosion mechanisms, microstructural evolution, and additive manufacturing (AM) process development, highlighting that corrosion performance is strongly influenced by AM process selection, parameter settings, alloying elements, and post-treatment methods, all of which shape microstructure, surface morphology, and passive layer formation. Based on the reviewed literature, AM techniques produce stainless steels with material properties that promote the formation of a passive oxide film significantly thicker, more electrically resistive, and more uniform than in conventionally produced counterparts. Moreover, the repeated heating and cooling cycles in AM suppress chromium-carbide precipitation along twin boundaries, thereby significantly enhancing resistance to intergranular corrosion compared to wrought counterparts. By optimizingAM parameters, it may be possible to refine grain structure, reduce process-induced defects, enhance post-processing efficiency, and stabilize passive films, enabling AM stainless steels to possibly match or even exceed the corrosion resistance of wrought steels, thus accelerating the use of AM stainless steel in marine engineering applications.
This paper aims to examine, systematize, and analyze relevant research on port operators and/or port authorities cooperation, competition, and capacity investment decisions. It also includes papers that model the dynamics of competition and cooperation under various management models using game theory. Our methodology employed a comprehensive search of English-language peer-reviewed journal articles across Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, which identified 69 peer-reviewed journal articles that were analysed through bibliometric methods to synthesize current trends and evaluate methodological approaches. the findings reveal that Bertrand and Nash models are predominantly employed, with a strong emphasis on inter-port competition, primarily concentrated in Asian and European regions, thus highlighting a regional disparity in the literature. However, there is a notable gap in exploring cooperative strategies and utilizing more complex, dynamic models to better understand port collaboration and evolving competitive dynamics.
Eye-tracking technologies have evolved considerably since their inception, enabling increasingly sophisticated analyses of human visual behavior. These technologies have subsequently been applied to examine the gaze behaviors of maritime professionals. As of 2020, approximately 15 English language research articles focused on eye-tracking applications in maritime contexts; since then,the number has more than doubled, reflecting growing interest in the field. This review examines 37 studies that met predefined eligibility criteria, encompassing a wide range of research themes and diverse eye-tracking metrics. It synthesizes the potential benefits and limitations of eye-tracking in maritime settings, identifies methodological and practical challenges, and highlights notable research gaps. The findings have implications for researchers, informing study design and metric selection; for maritime educators, enhancing training and assessment methods; and for designers of nautical charts, navigational equipment interfaces, and bridge layouts, supporting the development of more effective and user-friendly designs.
This review examines the current landscape of hydrogen production technologies, including thermochemical, electrochemical, and biological methods, highlighting their efficiencies, feedstock requirements, and environmental implications. Furthermore, the paper explores the challenges and advancements in hydrogen storage technologies, primarily on compressed gas, liquefied hydrogen, and solid-state storage. Hydrogen technology across industries, from transportation, to grid energy storage and industrial processes are discussed, with a focus on maritime sector applications, showcasing hydrogen’s versatility and decarbonization potential. Despite its promise, large-scale hydrogen adoption is constrained by high costs, infrastructure limitations, and energy efficiency concerns. This review aims to provide a foundational understanding for researchers and policymakers to support the advancement of hydrogen as a key component in future energy systems.
This paper reviews cybersecurity standards, regulations, and audit procedures relevant to EU Onshore Power Supply systems. These systems link maritime and energy infrastructures via high-capacity ship-to-shore connections. Such hybrid operational technology environments introduce vulnerabilities that neither maritime nor energy sector standards fully address. Using a qualitative, comparative review, the authors evaluate key frameworks. Analysis reveals gaps in authentication, mutual assurance, runtime monitoring, incident response, and management of legacy operational technology. the findings provide a foundation for risk-informed, cross-sector cybersecurity audits and highlight the need for harmonized yet adaptable security requirements to safeguard Onshore Power Supply-enabled ports against evolving cyber threats.
Values of seafarers influence the safety of maritime operations and determining them helps in understanding seafarers’ behavior and decision-making. This empirical study investigated the predominant personal values among seafarers using Schwartz’s Value Theory as the theoretical framework. Employing a quantitative approach, this study surveyed 1002 seafarers using a revision of the Schwartz Revised Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ-RR). The revised version (in English) was tested for validity and reliability and was pilot tested, then translated into eight other languages. Quantitative analysis involved statistical analyses which followed the recommendations of Schwartz (2021) to determine the values that seafarers hold, including their significant differences based on demographic profiles. The findings reveal that the predominant values among seafarers are Self-transcendence and Conservation, specifically Security, Benevolence, Universalism and Conformity broad values. Universalism-Nature, Security-Personal, Benevolence-Caring, Security-Societal, Benevolence-Dependability and Universalism-Concern were the narrowly defined values that seafarers hold. Also, there was no significant difference in the values that seafarers hold in terms of their demographic profile except for their nationality. To the knowledge of the researchers, this is the first study that used the 19 value-framework to determine the value priorities of seafarers. The determined values of seafarers are significant to maritime stakeholders, including the Maritime Education and Training institutions in designing/redesigning programs to address the affective domain of learning, specifically values and their internalization.
The global shipping industry has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted supply chains and forced companies to adapt their business and marketing strategies. The aim of this research is to examine the transformation of marketing strategies in the shipping industry in response to these market disruptions. The research analyses three leading companies: Maersk, MSC, and CMA CGM, using a qualitative case study approach. The findings show that all three companies have accelerated digital transformation, integrating it into their marketing strategies to strengthen customer relationships through transparent communication. Maersk expanded digital platforms, MSC introduced blockchain-based electronic bill of lading, while CMA CGM implemented the Business Continuity Pack. These measures mitigated disruption and set long-term standards for resilience, innovation, and responsibility.
Technological development allows sea pilots to operate remotely from shore, assisting vessels through areas that are complex to navigate. A Sea pilot (a marine pilot, a harbor pilot, a port pilot, or simply a pilot) is a mariner who advises a master how to safely navigate the vessel and his role is well known in the maritime world. The challenge lies in defining his role when the ship is being monitored via live-streaming cameras. Remote pilotage offers significant cost reduction benefits; however, this mode of pilotage necessitates comprehensive regulations and standardization. It is crucial to delineate the pilot's role, including the commencement and termination of their duties, as well as their legal responsibilities within the regulatory framework. The paper presents tasks for remote pilotage legal regulations, considering that the lack of regulation at the international level could pose significant legal challenges to its implementation.
Maritime transport is under increasing pressure to improve hydrodynamic efficiency and decrease emissions. Catamarans offer operational benefits; however, they are limited by wave-making resistance at high speeds. Stern flaps are effective for monohulls, but their optimization for catamarans is inadequately investigated owing to the complexities of twin-hull hydrodynamics. This work utilizes computational fluid dynamics simulations to comprehensively assess stern flap performance on a catamaran under varying ship speed conditions and angles of attack. The findings indicate that a 0 degrees flap decreases overall resistance by an average of 5.5%, despite a 1.76% increase in wetted surface area, accomplished by separation-free flow and balanced trim correction, which includes a 42% reduction in stern-squat at higher Froude numbers. Conversely, a 20 degrees flap elevates resistance by up to 8.8% at high Froude numbers due to flow separation, which exacerbates a 4.48% increase in wetted area and a 0.49% rise in heave, despite its 93% geometric trim correction. Research results indicate that neutral flap angles improve catamaran efficiency by avoiding three hydrodynamic drawbacks of higher angles: increased pressure drag, expanded wetted surface, and reduced stability. High-angle configurations are not recommended for any operating profiles.
The maritime industry, responsible for over 80% of global transport and around 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, faces mounting pressure to decarbonise, increasing the need for sustainability education in Maritime Education and Training. Maritime education is crucial for equipping future professionals with the knowledge and skills to address environmental and social challenges. This study examines maritime educators' commitment to sustainability principles, their awareness of sustainability issues in port services, and the integration of behavioural change approaches into teaching. A quantitative study, guided by the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation= Behaviour (COM-B) model, was conducted using an online survey completed by 86 maritime educators from various countries. The findings indicate that educators are motivated to integrate behavioural change approaches, but need to strengthen their capability through training and resources and have limited opportunities, such as real case studies and interactive learning methods. The study also explores differences across demographic characteristics and offers implications that underscore the role of educators in fostering awareness and adoption of sustainable behaviours among maritime professionals, contributing to environmental and economic sustainability.
The maritime economy, a cornerstone of global trade and economic development, is undergoing rapid transformation driven by technological advancements, sustainability challenges, and evolving regulatory frameworks. This study systematically organises and analyses 827 scientific articles from the Web of Science, employing a hybrid methodology integrating Social Network Analysis (SNA), the Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) clustering algorithm, and large language models (LLMs) to identify key research themes and emerging trends. Through an iterative "human-in-the-loop" process, we refine the clustering process, resulting in six main clusters and 26 subclusters spanning topics such as governance and strategic management, forecasting and modelling, port operations, digital innovations, sustainability, and risk management. The results reveal a marked shift toward sustainability-oriented and technology-driven research, emphasising the convergence of environmental responsibility, digital transformation, and operational resilience. The findings also highlight the growing role of autonomous technologies, big data analytics, and blockchain in reshaping maritime systems, while underscoring the need for adaptive governance frameworks and cross-sectoral collaboration.
The development of the oil and gas sector, particularly offshore production and transportation, requires the creation of a wide range of diagnostic equipment capable of inspecting risers, pipelines, and platform foundations under challenging conditions. Elements of this infrastructure may be exposed to strong currents, high water turbidity, great depths, seabed burial, or biological fouling. As a result, the use of standardized remotely operated vehicle (ROV) configurations is often impractical. It leads to a set of challenges spanning the design of marine vehicles as well as the resolution of physical, technological, and software-related problems, including optimization of equipment placement and layout. During the design of an ROV, engineers must address issues related to power supply, buoyancy, hull strength, communication systems, installation of control and monitoring instruments, integration of diagnostic equipment, and the principles for data handling and storage. These parameters are typically interdependent, which necessitates multivariate analysis and comprehensive optimization. The study develops and presents a method for optimizing the parameters of an ROV intended for the inspection of risers and offshore oil and gas platform foundations, based on TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving). The existing regulatory framework for ROVs is incorporated, the types of optimization tasks are identified, and the necessary input data sets are examined. The work demonstrates how combining TRIZ principles with multifactor optimization methods can yield an optimal design and layout solution for an ROV.As a result, TRIZ methods have been adapted to the problem of designing ROVs for the inspection of offshore oil and gas facilities.
This study examines the effects of natural seawater ageing on mechanical properties, including tensile strength and flexural strength of flax fiber reinforced polymers (FFRP). Specimens were subjected to a natural seawater environment in periods of exposure of one, three, and five months, as well as a reference group that was kept at room temperature. Water absorption and desorption were measured by weighing the specimens before and after exposure. All submerged specimens exhibited varying levels of microorganisms and adhering algae attachment to the material surface, as well as subsequent growth rates. Both tensile and flexural properties were measured and compared to reference specimens, which were kept in a dry room environment. Various levels of ultimate tensile strength (UTS) degradation were observed for different exposure times for tensile testing specimens, as well as a reduction in maximum flexural strain for three-point bending test specimens.
To address the issues of increased resistance and energy consumption caused by biofouling on ship hulls, a scraping blade design method based on cutting theory is proposed for a model of an underwater robot. A dynamic model of the blade is established by combining classical cutting theory and extrusion cutting theory, and the analysis indicates that a rake angle of 20 degrees satisfies the removal requirements of barnacles while reducing resistance and energy consumption. On this basis, an idealized attachment model of barnacles and ship hulls is constructed in ABAQUS to perform finite element simulations for single barnacle, double barnacles, and various distribution patterns, including aligned, staggered, and dense multi-barnacle arrangements. The results demonstrate that the blade generates stresses significantly higher than the maximum adhesion strength of barnacles under all conditions, confirming the feasibility of the 20 degrees rake angle. Compared with ultrasonic cavitation cleaning, the proposed method achieves higher cleaning efficiency, lower energy demand, and better environmental compatibility, providing an effective and sustainable solution for ship hull maintenance.
In today's world, the demand for marine industries to improve energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact from marine power plants through waste heat recovery (WHR) is increasing daily. The energy efficiency of the marine engine is about 50% with a large amount of energy removed as waste heat, especially in exhaust gases. The present research paper proposes the optimization of the WHR by adopting the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model, exploring real-world data extracted from marine power plants on board to investigate the optimization of waste heat recovery. The ANN model, which was trained with operational parameters including exhaust gas temperature, engine load and ambient conditions, showed a very good predictive capability producing an R2 of 0.95, RMSE of 3.85kW, and MAE of 2.68kW. The ANN model proved to be more accurate and reliable than conventional thermodynamic methods considering fluctuating operational conditions. As indicated by the sensitivity analysis, exhaust gas temperature and engine load were found to produce the greatest impact on the potential of WHR. The results have a tremendous impact on the maritime sector, enabling ship operators and owners to improve efficiency and sustainability while reducing exhaust gas emissions.
The global shipping industry has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted supply chains and forced companies to adapt their business and marketing strategies. The aim of this research is to examine the transformation of marketing strategies in the shipping industry in response to these market disruptions. The research analyses three leading companies: Maersk, MSC, and CMA CGM, using a qualitative case study approach. The findings show that all three companies have accelerated digital transformation, integrating it into their marketing strategies to strengthen customer relationships through transparent communication. Maersk expanded digital platforms, MSC introduced blockchain-based electronic bill of lading, while CMA CGM implemented the Business Continuity Pack. These measures mitigated disruption and set long-term standards for resilience, innovation, and responsibility.
This study examines the effect of coolant and antifreeze solutions such as distilled water, ethylene glycol-based antifreeze with organic acid technology (OAT), and ethylene glycol-based antifreeze with inorganic inhibitors and glycerol (IAT/HOAT) on the tensile strength of glass fiber-reinforced polyester (GFRP-P) and vinyl ester (GFRP-VE) composites. Standardized specimens were produced and immersed in these solutions for three months at room temperature. Following exposure, tensile tests were conducted using the universal testing machine, supported by microscopic analysis to evaluate surface damage and internal structural changes such as composite layer delamination. The tensile test results show the highest decrease in tensile strength for GFRP-P specimens immersed in HOAT antifreeze (16.3%), whereas GFRP-VE specimens exhibit only a minimal reduction (3.4%). This difference is attributed to the higher chemical aggressiveness and alkalinity of the HOAT antifreeze. Furthermore, the decrease in the tensile strength of GFR-P exposed to OAT antifreeze is 6.1%, whereas GFRP-VE demonstrates a significantly smaller reduction of 1%, which can be attributed to the less aggressive chemical composition of the OAT formulation compared to HOAT. In contrast, the influence of distilled water on GFRP-P specimens is manifested as a tensile strength decrease of 12.7%, whereas GFRP-VE specimens show a reduction of 11%, attributed to the fluid's density and the rate of hydrolytic degradation. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the effects of various coolant media on the performance of GFRP in marine cooling systems, highlighting GFRP-VE as a more suitable matrix for prolonged exposure to coolant environments.
This paper reviews cybersecurity standards, regulations, and audit procedures relevant to EU Onshore Power Supply systems. These systems link maritime and energy infrastructures via highcapacity ship-to-shore connections. Such hybrid operational technology environments introduce vulnerabilities that neither maritime nor energy sector standards fully address. Using a qualitative, comparative review, the authors evaluate key frameworks. Analysis reveals gaps in authentication, mutual assurance, runtime monitoring, incident response, and management of legacy operational technology. The findings provide a foundation for risk-informed, cross-sector cybersecurity audits and highlight the need for harmonized yet adaptable security requirements to safeguard Onshore Power Supply-enabled ports against evolving cyber threats.
This review examines the current landscape of hydrogen production technologies, including thermochemical, electrochemical, and biological methods, highlighting their efficiencies, feedstock requirements, and environmental implications. Furthermore, the paper explores the challenges and advancements in hydrogen storage technologies, primarily on compressed gas, liquefied hydrogen, and solid-state storage. Hydrogen technology across industries, from transportation, to grid energy storage and industrial processes are discussed, with a focus on maritime sector applications, showcasing hydrogen's versatility and decarbonization potential. Despite its promise, large-scale hydrogen adoption is constrained by high costs, infrastructure limitations, and energy efficiency concerns. This review aims to provide a foundational understanding for researchers and policymakers to support the advancement of hydrogen as a key component in future energy systems.
