Cargo Security Management: How Digitization Can Help Safeguard the Shipping Abstract

This paper examines how digitization can help safeguard the shipping industry by providing security monitoring of cargo, communications for shipping vessels, better surveillance for ports, and better protection through a number of technologies made possible by digitization services. Relevant literature is examined and perspectives on digitization are compared and contrasted to reveal strengths and weaknesses of the adoption of digitization in cargo security management. The paper concludes with a recommendation on whether digitization should be implemented in the industry or avoided because of costs to updating infrastructure.

Introduction

In the field of cargo security management, technology plays a pivotal role, not only in how shipping is managed but also in how far risk is mitigated and security established through systems-wide control mechanisms. To help protect cargo and supply chains, digitization has been shown to be an effective approach that can allow businesses and stakeholders to more effectively monitor the movement of goods and inspect cargo to ensure safety and reduce the threat of terroristic activity gaining a foothold in the movement of cargo (Fruth & Teuteberg, 2017). However, not all ports are created equally and some are more advanced in terms of providing digitization services to better effect the security of cargo. This paper will compare and contrast the issues surrounding this topic of security through digitization as a way to combat terrorism in cargo security management.

Literature Review

As Fruth and Teuteberg (2017) point out, the health of the global economical is critically linked to the safety of the world’s ports and the protection of the cargo that goes in and out of those ports. Over the past two and a half decades, cargo traffic has grown by approximately 10% year over year and more and more ships have grown in size to reflect the growth in shipping. Because of the sheer size and capacity of cargo supplies in today’s day and age, it stands to reason that digitization could help provide cargo security managers with the type of Big Data that can be used to better manage cargo-related logistics (Fruth & Teuteberg, 2017). Digitization of processes can better ensure “efficiency, safety and energy saving” (Fruth & Teuteberg, 2017), but there are also risks in handling Big Data, as well—such as the threat of cyber attack, cyber hack, and Big Data being sold or leaked to third parties. Rahman, Saifullah and Dhaka (2016) show that “demand pressure for a digitalized commercial environment” is growing in the cargo security management field and that a globalized world in a technologically-advanced day and age essentially insists that digitization be more thoroughly incorporated into cargo management services at ports around the world (p. 267).

Digitization can help to combat terrorist threats in cargo security management by linking ports as well. Helig Schwarze and Vob (2017) have shown that “as actors in world-wide supply chains, seaports are particularly affected by technological change,” which means they should respond to technological change in a...

Yet digitization is also needed in order to ensure that cargo shippers can remain strong within an industry shifting towards digitization. As Helig et al. (2017) note, “due to the high requirements in the logistics sector, e.g., regarding costs, efficiency, security, and sustainability, digital innovation is essential to stay competitive” (p. 1341). In short, digitization is here to stay as a result of the technological revolution of the Information Age. If it is not incorporated into a cargo security management policy, the supply chain overseen will be weakened as a result.
Implementing an effective digitization strategy can be complicated, however—and costly. For that reason, it is important that stakeholders band together to cover costs so that a uniform approach can be conducted. Ahokas, Kiiski, Malmsten and Ojala (2017) state that there are numerous ways that states and non-government operators alike can more effectively manage cargo security: The first way they point out is that managers can “commercialize their own cyberskills and cooperate with national or other non-governmental operators” (p. 11). This means that by working together with various other stakeholders in the supply chain, a more comprehensive safeguard of cargo can be accomplished. The second way the researchers point out is that managers can “form different alliances, for instance with national authorities that can offer them cyberskills” (Ahokas et al., 2017, p. 11). By forming alliances, cargo security managers can better effect a unified front against the threat of terrorism as they work to make sure that cargo is at all times safely being monitored, tracked, and overseen.

Ahokas et al. (2017) identify the risks inherent in using digitization tools, as Fruth and Teuteberg (2017) do, but they argue that “even though cyberspace can be used for malicious operations, it has established a platform for new innovations, such as digitalization, virtualization and automation. Thanks to these innovations, organizations have been able to cute various intermediaries from their production and service chains” (Ahokas et al., 2017, p. 11). By doing so, costs can be saved and these savings can be invested in the digitalized infrastructure needed to safeguard cargo. That infrastructure can be manifested in a variety of forms—including in the use of tracking technologies, surveillance systems, sensors, wireless tech, mobile equipment, drones, 3D printing, and analytics. As Heilig et al. (2017) note, these technologies represent a valuable way to help ensure that cargo is shipped on time, that security is guaranteed, that port capacity is maximized, the process efficiency is supported, and that costs are reduced for cargo operators, port operators, and shipping clients. In fact, Heilig et al (2017) show that industry leaders have more and more turned to implement digitization simply to better serve their clients.

Thus, in spite of the costs associated with upgrading infrastructures to include digitization technology, the savings and security that this technology can provide can be worth it in the long run. Plus, the fact that digitization is not going away…