Blockchain Adoption Time of Shipowners: A Game Theoretic Analysis

Abstract

With continuous overcapacity in vessel tonnage and slower growth of global trade, shipowners are facing fierce competition and are pushed to look for innovative ways to improve their performance and reduce costs. Blockchain is one of the emerging technologies that has the potential to help shipowners to achieve these goals. This study aims to analyse if and when shipowners would adopt blockchain when facing a request from a big shipper. A game theory model is developed to analyse the optimal adoption time of shipowners. The analytical solutions of the optimal adoption time of each shipowner are obtained in different situations. The numerical analysis reveals that the higher shipping quantity carried by the shipowners, the earlier they would join the blockchain network. Shipowners with very small shipping quantities would be unlikely to adopt blockchain until more than a decade later. It is suggested that blockchain initiators should start with large shipowners when promoting blockchain.