The Future of Internet Use in the Shipping Business (FoIS): Part 8 of 10

Most shipping companies feel like they're on their way to e-business; some further than others.

By Ryan Skinner (email)

This is the eighth part of the ten-part FoIS series that I introduced last week, presenting the results of a unique survey about Internet use in the shipping industry. The survey was created by this blog, together with ShipServ for its Connect10 conference earlier this year.

For those interested in receiving the full responses in a .pdf report after the full series has been published, send me an email requesting it.

The seventh question of the survey was:

If you were to compare adoption of Internet-based tools in your business as a voyage from Shanghai to Rotterdam, where would your company be right now?

The responses:

Analysis:

This particularly subjective and shipping-themed question painted a very interesting picture. As many as half of the respondents feel like their company is either at the starting line or at the finishing line. There are lines of company "ships" jumbled in the ports of Shanghai and Rotterdam.

The remainder of respondents feel like their company is in the midst of its journey, with remaining answers stretching from the waters around Singapore to the Portuguese coast. Interestingly, many put themselves in the Red Sea - an anecdotal half-way point.

Given the tremendous spread of responses, there would seem to be strong opinions on the subject, but also significant confusion. Whether your company is a first-mover, a laggard or just average, the industry has no real gold standard by which to judge itself.

Key points

• Half of respondents are likely either frustrated or proud of their shipping company's adoption of Internet-based tools.
• Very few responded that their shipping company was completely off course (e.g. near Hawaii)

Do you have comments to the question, the results or the analysis? Share them below in the comments field!

Tomorrow what I call FoIS (the Future of the Internet in Shipping) continues with part nine, in which we see how respondents answered the question: "What's your view of social media and its role in the shipping business?"