As pillars of logistics, supply chains, and transport networks, seaports have led to a substantial demand for countless economic advantages. The sustainability and competitive advantage of seaport businesses depend on their ability to adapt to changing business requirements, while Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) is a current phenomenon that connects the global market through smart technologies involving cyber-physical systems to overcome global trade uncertainty. However, focusing only on growing economic benefits might lead to an ineffective sustainable implementation of IR 4.0 within a seaport system. Therefore, this paper compares the current status of IR 4.0 global implementation against the current Malaysian seaport system to ensure that the development of seaports in Malaysia is aligned with technological trends and global requirements. In addition, this paper investigates the critical sustainable factors (CSFs) for the implementation of IR 4.0 in Malaysian seaports. A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) is used to obtain the data from 13 domain experts, from various maritime stakeholders, which is further analysed by using Thematic Analysis. The result has shown that most seaports have started to initiate a fusion by focusing on IR 4.0 adaptation. In contrast, in Malaysia, the seaports in this country are still behind the global trend and are just starting to explore the concept of IR 4.0 instead of expanding to the next level (global benchmark). The current status and CSFs, for the implementation of IR 4.0 in Malaysian seaports, are presented in comparison to global requirements, and the marginal associations between them are shown. As a conclusion, by comparing a global seaport scenario with Malaysian seaports, the main considerations for sustaining the implementation of IR 4.0 in Malaysian seaports can be discovered.
Maritime tourism is a niche market that provides maritime nations with an additional source of foreign exchange and employments. However, due to a lack of awareness of the significance of the maritime tourism sector, a very few studies have investigated the problems faced by this sub sector. Therefore, this paper aimed to identify the problems faced by the maritime tourism industry and propose solutions with which to overcome these obstacles. A bibliometric analysis technique was used to scour databases, such as Scopus and Web of Science (WoS); with VOS Viewer. The content analysis was carried out and then coded using QSR International's NVivo 12. The paper found that the maritime tourism industry is currently plagued by six major problem clusters. These were classified as a) governmental and political supports, b) environmental issues, c) cooperation among stakeholders, d) maritime tourism law and policies, e) technological matters, and f) maritime tourism knowledge. Therefore, this present study proposes the development of a new market; the smart maritime tourism market; which is the most effective and efficient approach of overcoming the current issues. It is believed that smart maritime tourism will not only benefit maritime nations but also adjacent landlocked nations.
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