Dong-Wook Song: Uncertainty as the nature of maritime transport and logistics: A view of maritime business educator

Two terms in definition and evolution
Maritime transport is composed of two pillars: shipping and port. Maritime logistics has been regarded as the primary means of transporting parts and finished goods (viz., outbound logistics) on a global scale and has recently attracted considerable attention from the general public due to the pandemic and unstable geopolitics. The term ‘maritime logistics’ was initially defined by my colleague and myself back to 2012, who suggest that, for a better understanding and ultimate definition of the term, the starting point should be to consider the underlying scope and characteristics of the two areas making-up the term (i.e., ‘maritime transport’ and ‘logistics and supply chain management’). On the one hand, maritime transport is clearly concerned with the transportation of goods and/or passengers between two seaports by sea; on the other hand, logistics is the function responsible for the flow of materials from suppliers into an organization, through operations within the organization and then out to customers. A supply chain is composed of a series of activities and organizations that materials (e.g., raw materials and information) move through on their journey from initial suppliers to final customers. Supply chain management involves the integration of all key business operations across the supply chain in an effective and efficient way. 

Based on these understandings, we took a further step towards the issue of convergence of maritime transport and logistics. These two terms are largely attributed to the physical integration of modes of transport facilitated by containerisation and the evolving demands of end-users that require the application of logistics concepts and the achievement of logistics goals. At the centre of maritime logistics is, therefore, the concept of integration, be it physical (intermodal or multimodal), economic and strategic (vertical integration, governance structure) and/or organizational (relational, people and process integration across organizations). All becomes nowadays ever more digitalised (synchromodality). 

Ever changing and volatile business pattern
There have been dramatic changes in the mode of world trade and cargo/freight transportation, characterized by the prevalence of business-to-business and integrated supply chains. These changes have been embodied by the increasing demand for value-added logistics services and the integration of various transportation modes. Consequently, the business stability and economic sustainability of the industry is largely subject to how well it adapts to such a dynamic environment. The high quality of logistics services and the effective and efficient integration of transport systems offered by maritime operators (i.e., shipping companies, port and/or terminal operators) have become an important issue. In other words, globalization and transport revolution, logistics integration, and the consequent expansion of the maritime industry have redefined the functional role of shipping and ports in global logistics and supply chains and have generated a new pattern of freight distribution. In this process, a number of issues still require further consideration, elaboration or explanation. 

Maritime business is notorious for its volatility in nature, largely due to the fact that the supply side is clumsy: that is, less-responsive to unexpected demands, and relatively more time to take back to the right track towards a so-called equilibrium between demand and supply. This very nature of volatility becomes even more capricious and unpredictable by the recently experienced pandemic, causing the maritime business world to be exposed to the greater uncertainty. Recent years will be definitely remembered a special or unprecedented incident by human history in terms of scale and impact on every aspect of human life. 

Education as a way to prepare ourselves for the future
Adaptability is all about the survival. This is particularly true in the business world including the maritime sector. Throughout the history, indeed, human beings have been all the time seeking out a way to respond to the (un)expected challenges. The historian Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) describes this phenomenon as a never-ending process of challenges and responses. Those uncertainties could be a challenge, in addition to ongoing manifestations over decarbonization and digitalization. Education (learning by ourselves as well as from others) could be regarded as a ‘collective’ response to those (un)expected challenges imposed on every aspect of today’s maritime business. 

Three reasons could be mentioned here below why a research-based maritime business education becomes imperative at the global level. (i) The fast-moving industry development requires an up-to-dated education and training as a way for professionals to deal with the ever-sophisticated maritime business and operations. (ii) The volatile nature of our industry has not sufficiently made itself resilient against external shocks, let alone its nature of derived demand. (iii) Being a truly global network-based industry, our sector becomes an ever-more interconnected system having engaged with a number of stakeholders from the developing as well as developed world, thus causing a high level of uncertainties even within the system. These are ‘some’ reasons that maritime business and management education ought to be research-based at the global level. 

Here in the World Maritime University (WMU), we are working towards the direction. WMU was founded in 1983 within the framework of the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, as its premier centre of excellence for maritime postgraduate education, research, and capacity development. The University offers unique postgraduate educational programmes, undertakes wide-ranging research in maritime and ocean-related studies, and continues maritime capacity development in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. More specifically, the University has been an educational hub for those subjects as shipping, port management and logistics since they were offered in 1996. Four different modes of education programmes and services are being offered: (i) MSc in Maritime Affairs with specializations of ‘Shipping Management and Logistics’ and ‘Port Management’ based on Malmö, Sweden, (ii) MSc in Maritime Affairs with a specialization of ‘International Transport and Logistics’ delivered in Shanghai, China by WMU in collaboration with Shanghai Maritime University, (iii) Postgraduate Diploma in Executive Maritime Management, delivered online in association with DNV, the world’s largest ship and offshore classification society, and (iv) Executive and Professional Development Courses upon request from any organization in the world (see https://www.wmu.se/programmes for more).

The University’s history of nurturing the future leaders in the field of shipping and port management and logistics shows that, as of January 2025 from the Malmö-based programmes, 718 mid-leveled intellectual forces from 99 different countries have been educated and trained. Those students were (and are/will be) taught by qualified academics and experienced professionals under the philosophy that developing critical thinking and data-driven decision-making analytics, and sharing learned knowledge and know-hows with others are of paramount importance.

Closing remark
The Chicago economist Frank Knight (1885-1972) classifies uncertainty into three types: known, unknown and unknowable. Education will equip us to get prepared well for the first type, reasonably for the second, and more elastic than otherwise even for the third.