IoT for the Maritime Industry: Challenges and Emerging Applications

The Internet of things (IoT) ecosystem provides a platform for the connectivity of interrelated smart devices to automate manual processes and reduce labor costs. IoT has brought significant benefits to all industries, including maritime, as various objects (e.g., ports, ships, agents, etc.) are connected to gather and share information within the maritime ecosystem. The innovative technological aspects of IoT are promoting the effective collaboration between the research community and the maritime industry, for enhancing the performance of maritime transportation systems. Therefore, this study discusses recent advances delivered by the IoT and other emerging technologies, like machine learning (ML) and computer vision (CV), for smart maritime transportation systems (SMTSs). In particular, this paper presents two specific use cases of SMTSs, namely, predictive maintenance and container damage/seal inspection. Moreover, the key benefits of integrating IoT with ML and CV are highlighted for the above-mentioned use cases. Finally, a discussion is presented to highlight key opportunities along with foreseeable future challenges in adopting these new technologies by the maritime industry.