Overall, 2019 was another turbulent year for most shipping markets, overshadowed by preparations for the IMO 2020 sulfur regulations, rising geopolitical tensions, the trade war between the USA and China, as well as natural disasters disrupting global supply chains. This article provides insight into the changes seen in the maritime software landscape under these turbulent conditions: On a high-level, the increase of software solutions reported in the recent years seems to have flattened out in 2019. This is partially caused by the fact that some solutions were being consolidated, but also fewer new vendors were entering the market. Venture capital investments were up from last year, but only due to one single major transaction. That said, should you as a reader conclude that the market is saturated and the willingness of investing into digital solutions will decline? No, absolutely not. We believe, now more than ever, it is important to be on the outlook for an increase in maritime digitalization efforts, since the “real world” use cases with healthy ROIs are finally starting to emerge in the market due to more mature and scalable solutions. 2020 will be the year to get started and the ones not willing to embrace the opportunities at hand, will lag behind the players that do.

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