Blockchain has emerged as one of the most promising technologies for transforming container shipping logistics because of its potential to enhance transparency, traceability, automation, interoperability, and trusted information sharing across maritime supply chains. Despite being widely recognised as both an emerging and disruptive technology, its adoption and industry-wide impact have remained considerably slower than anticipated. This study systematically reviews the literature to examine why blockchain is considered an emerging and disruptive technology, identify the factors responsible for the gap between its transformative potential and actual implementation, and explore future directions for enabling wider adoption. A systematic literature review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) Statement, with evidence synthesised from 86 peer-reviewed studies published between 2008 and 2026 using thematic analysis. The review reveals that blockchain's limited disruptive impact is primarily constrained by governance challenges, trust deficits, organisational resistance, regulatory and legal constraints, confidentiality concerns, and interoperability limitations rather than technological shortcomings. The findings further demonstrate that governance neutrality, consortium-based collaboration, privacy-preserving technologies, interoperability standards, regulatory alignment, organisational readiness, and ecosystem-wide collaboration are essential for realising blockchain's disruptive potential. This study provides a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge and offers a research agenda to support the broader adoption and sustainable digital transformation of container shipping logistics.
Ericky Iipumbu, Mercy Chitauro· International Journal For Mu...· 0 citations
Blockchain has emerged as a promising technology for strengthening maritime regulatory compliance by improving digital documentation, information integrity, traceability, transparency, and auditability across global maritime supply chains. Despite increasing research interest and numerous proposed applications, existing knowledge remains fragmented across different technological domains, limiting a comprehensive understanding of blockchain's contribution to regulatory compliance. This study systematically reviews the literature to examine blockchain technologies and applications supporting maritime regulatory compliance, evaluate their contribution to digital documentation and immutable audit trails, identify the challenges limiting implementation, and determine future research directions. A systematic literature review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) Statement, with evidence synthesised from 130 peer-reviewed publications published between 2020 and 2026 using thematic synthesis. The review identifies digital documentation, immutable audit trails, customs and border compliance, certificate verification, and smart contract automation as the principal application areas through which blockchain enhances regulatory compliance. The findings further demonstrate that blockchain strengthens document authenticity, traceability, accountability, information sharing, and process automation while reducing fraud, administrative duplication, and document verification delays. However, widespread adoption remains constrained by governance challenges, interoperability limitations, legal and regulatory uncertainty, organisational resistance, scalability concerns, implementation costs, and the absence of internationally accepted standards. This study provides a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge, identifies critical research gaps, and proposes future research directions to support the development of secure, interoperable, and institutionally accepted blockchain-enabled maritime regulatory compliance ecosystems.
Ericky Iipumbu, Mercy Chitauro· International Journal For Mu...· 0 citations
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