The adoption of electronic bills of lading in the shipping industry

• Main Author: Lim, Megan Zhi Yan
• Other Authors: Kelvin Pang Ka Liong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Maritime studies
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/172544
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This project aims to act as an advocate to speed up digitisation in the shipping industry and a call to action so other sectors of the shipping industry follow suit in adopting electronic Bills of Ladings (eBLs) in their trade. Moreover, it intends to raise awareness about the importance and benefits of eBLs in the shipping industry due to low but growing usage in the recent years. The research deployed the investigation and studied perspectives of various stakeholders in the shipping industry and found some driving factors and concerns of their willingness or unwillingness to use eBLs in their trade. Factor analysis was applied to identify the five constructs – Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Risk, Trust, and Social influence. Multiple regression model and Pearson correlation analysis were used to test the relationship between the Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Risk, Trust, Social Influence, and Intention to Use. The study concluded in discussion and found out the factor of “Subjective Norm” and “Confidence” contributed the most to the willingness of using eBLs. This paper also provided recommendations to stakeholders to drive greater adoption of eBLs in the wider shipping industry. This study may provide some insight for the stakeholders in the shipping industry and the government if they are interested to upscale the adoption of eBLs in future.