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shipping-industry

Shipping Industry & Marine Ports

Transportation and Logistics

Volatile trade-flow dynamics and heightened emissions regulations mean many standard shipping industry approaches are no longer viable. Our international shipping consulting team helps shipping lines and port operators emerge leaner, cleaner, and more profitable.

To ensure long-term survival, the maritime shipping industry must undertake a transformation that digitizes business and fleet operations, automates end-to-end operations, leverages GenAI, and prioritizes decarbonization. We help clients devise new offerings and new ways of working to reduce emissions, save costs, and serve new markets and customers.

Our Approach to Maritime Consulting

BCG’s proprietary Shipping Benchmark Initiative provides the most comprehensive and reliable benchmarks in the shipping industry, delivering the data-driven insights companies need to get ahead in the volatile world of global shipping. Armed with this knowledge, companies are better prepared to tackle today’s most pressing industry challenges, including direct and indirect emissions, operational cost digitalization, and global trade disruptions.

To extend our reach in shaping the global agenda, BCG has joined forces with the following key knowledge partners. These collaborations are accelerating decarbonization of the marine industry and driving progress toward net zero.

  • The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping
  • The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation
  • World Economic Forum
  • COP  
  • Science Based Targets Initiative 
  • Terminal Industry Committee 4.0 

Our Client Impact on Shipping Strategy

Our international shipping consulting team has worked with marine ports and shipping industry leaders around the world. Some of our recent successes include the following:

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BCG has joined forces with several Danish transportation and logistics companies, the Danish government, and Danish-based engineering consulting firm COWI in a partnership to develop a new hydrogen and e-fuel production facility in Copenhagen. The facility now delivers more than 250,000 tons of sustainable fuel every year for buses, trucks, maritime vessels, and airplanes.

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A container company had consistently been among the least profitable in the shipping industry. We helped implement a transformation program for the container ship operator, optimizing trade coverage, redesigning the sales organization, and identifying significant cost-cutting opportunities. By the second year of the effort, the company’s earnings before interest and taxes had risen above the market average.

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BCG helped build a predictive maintenance capability within a large international shipping company. By installing monitoring sensors in its control systems and engine rooms, the company boosted the reliability of its fleet and cut maintenance costs.

 

Our Shipping Industry Tools and Solutions

Our maritime consulting work draws on an array of proprietary tools that support clients along the entire value chain and helps companies build a competitive advantage. Our expertise ranges from sustainability strategy to ecosystem collaboration to investment possibilities, with clients spanning shipping companies, fuel producers, ports, and beyond. Some of our shipping industry tools and solutions include the following:

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Shipping Benchmark Initiative

This initiative provides an easy way for companies in the marine industry to compare their costs and emissions performance with competitors. It uses data from more than 4,500 of the world’s commercial vessels to help companies build a rock-solid shipping strategy, improve their competitiveness, and stay ahead of the latest industry trends.

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Container Demand and Supply Forecaster

Our forecaster enables the shipping industry to analyze global trends for 9 major trade lanes, 64 shipping routes, 11 regions, and 16 commodity groups. The model includes commodity level estimations and accounts for geopolitical tensions, providing a forecast for future shipping trade scenarios and potential impact on the global container market.

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Transportation and Logistics Market Insight Tool

Our tool provides decision makers in the shipping logistics industry with a powerful cockpit for steering operational choices. The tool compiles data on 7 industries, 25 market segments and subsegments, and 31 financial KPIs. It allows companies to get a complete picture of the marine industry and forecast trends and assess their performance.

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Digital Ports Benchmarking

This initiative enables various stakeholders in the marine ports industry to compare their digital maturity and automation progress across the marine industry. In collaboration with TIC 4.0—the leading international not-for-profit port association—we are creating transparency and facilitating industrywide digital transformation.

Our ESG Playbook for Shipping Decarbonization

The shipping industry is responsible for 3% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, but only 46% of the largest shipping companies have taken responsibility by committing to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) targets. That’s why BCG and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping have developed an ESG Playbook for Shipping. Designed to help navigate the ESG landscape, this playbook describes tangible steps to help shipping companies set—and reach—ambitious ESG targets. For more information on how to get started on your ESG journey, please contact BCG's Peter Jameson.

Get your copy of the playbook today
 

Explore Our Insights on the Shipping Industry

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Voyaging Toward a Greener Maritime Future

By segmenting shipowners and operators according to their commitment to decarbonization, stakeholders can accelerate their adoption of capabilities and technologies to reduce those emissions.

Explore more Shipping Industry Insights

Meet Our Shipping Consultants

Our shipping consulting experts have created large-scale shipping decarbonization programs across industries and geographies, developed digitalization and AI initiatives, and built the enablers for sustainable, long-term success. Here are some of our shipping consultants:

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