Advancements in Digital Logistics and Maritime Supply Chain Innovation: A Sustainable Development Perspective

Dear Colleagues,

The deployment of digital solutions in general, and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI) and continuously evolving machine learning (ML) models, are reshaping both fundamental business models and the interconnected performance advantages offered to maritime supply chain organizations. Deep knowledge creation, substantial decision-making improvements, and further process automation and efficiency gains are being pursued across diverse settings and various strategic, tactical, and operational cases in maritime business. Producers, maritime transport, and multimodal freight transport operators, as well as port operators, are seeking to employ a complex set of models and software solutions to drive AI-powered digital transformation.

With an emphasis on sustainability, this Special Issue will examine how advancements in digital technologies, including, but not limited to, AI and ML, are enhancing supply chain organizations, particularly the performance of maritime transport and logistics operators, while simultaneously improving safety and resilience. In addition to efficiency and profitability, we will explore how digital logistics solutions enhance the end-customer experience, specifically within the framework of sustainable maritime supply chain management practices.

Sustainability is of paramount importance in contemporary supply chain management, with varied emphasis on financial, environmental, and broader social factors, which are considered in real-life AI projects in logistics and transportation companies. Innovation management and information technology management cases are expected to highlight the choices, barriers, and measured impacts of digital transformation, including AI-powered logistics and maritime transport on the environmental footprint of supply chains, as well as their contributions to responsible workforce management.

Hence, this Special Issue focuses on how digital solutions, including AI and ML technologies, align with maritime logistics and supply chain strategies in different applications.  Specifically, we aim to present various approaches to digital transformation and AI-driven solutions that can enhance business models, innovation management pathways, and technology capabilities in these industries. This Special Issue will explore how digital transformation is integrated into shipping and port infrastructures, as well as enterprise software systems, that are redesigned with more powerful data analytics, visualization, and recommendation capabilities, all with a particular focus on achieving efficiency, decarbonization, and resilience in maritime supply chains. The central objective of this Special Issue is to contribute to a broader understanding of how digital logistics can positively shape maritime logistics and freight transportation systems. We welcome contributions of various types (theoretical, educational, case studies, multi-case studies, etc.) that address digital transformation as it is applied to maritime business contexts and which directly emphasize the challenges, issues, and trends in sustainable development in the maritime industry. We aim to cover the main aspects of maritime business shipping, port operations, and logistics, including (but not limited) to IT and technologies applied to transportation that can be easily translated into a use-case in maritime applications.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

• Innovative AI-driven business models in shipping, ports, logistics, and supply chain management;
• Ensemble and hybrid ML models for sustainable maritime supply chain management operations;
• AI adoption barriers in supply chain decarbonization;
• AI-powered shipping decarbonization;
• Sustainable maritime supply chain planning with ML models;
• Maritime Supply chain monitoring with AI;
• AI-driven port operation optimization;
• AI-driven solutions for shipping and port infrastructures;
• Digital twin technology for maritime supply chain sustainability;
• Digital twin technology for shipping and port sustainability.

Prof. Dr. Maria Lambrou
Dr. Cassia Galvao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• maritime supply chains
• maritime logistics
• digital logistics
• innovative AI-driven business models in shipping, ports, maritime logistics, and supply chain management
• sustainable maritime supply chain management operations
• digital twin technology for maritime supply chain sustainability