Big Maritime Data: The promises and perils of the Automatic Identification System : Shipowners and operators’ perceptions

Abstract: The term Big Data has been gaining importance both at the academic and at the business level. Information technology plays a critical role in shipping since there is a high demand for fast transfer and communication between the parts of a shipping contract. The development of Automatic Identification System (AIS) is intended to improve maritime safety by tracking the vessels and exchange inter-ship information.  This master’s thesis purpose was to a) investigate in which business decisions the Automatic Identification System helps the shipowners and operators (i.e., users), b) find the benefits and perils arisen from its use, and c) investigate the possible improvements based on the users’ perceptions. This master’s thesis is a qualitative study using the interpretivism paradigm. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. A total of 6 people participated with the following criteria: a) position on technical department or DPA or shipowner, b) participating on business decisions, c) shipping company owns a fleet, and d) deals with AIS data. The Thematic Analysis led to twenty-six codes, twelve categories and five concepts. Empirical findings showed that AIS data mostly contributes to make strategic business decisions. Participants are interested in using AIS data to measure the efficiency of their fleet and ports, to estimate the fuel consumption, to reduce their costs, to protect the environment and people’s health, to analyze the trade market, to predict the time of arrival, the optimal route and speed, to maintain highest security levels and to reduce the inaccuracies due to manual input of some AIS attributes. Finally, participants mentioned some AIS challenges including technological improvement (e.g., transponders, antennas) as well as the operation of autonomous vessels.  Finally, this master’s thesis contributes using the prescriptive and descriptive theories and help stakeholders to find new decisions while researchers and developers to advance their products.