Kei Kato is a PhD candidate in Geography in the Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA). His PhD dissertation focuses on the maritime economy, examining how the shipping industry is pursuing its twin transition of decarbonisation and digitalisation. He is on a research stay at the Decoupling IT research project until summer 2027, hosted by Professor Steffen Dalsgaard.

Kei elaborates on his field of research: The maritime economy is a constituent of the global economy. While the centrality of shipping to the development of the modern global economy may seem self-evident, shipping remains at the centre of the global economy today, transporting over 80% of global trade by volume (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2024). What is distinctive about contemporary shipping is how deeply it has become embedded in the organisation of global production itself. Contemporary production is transnationally dispersed more than ever, with different components of a single item produced in different locations and assembled elsewhere. In this system, logistics, especially maritime logistics, functions as a sort of conveyor belt for the global factory. Logistics has thus become so central to the global economy that disruptions to logistics are framed as threats to humanity itself (Cowen, 2014).

“My dissertation examines how the maritime industry is being transformed today through decarbonisation and digitalisation. Just as historical socio-technical arrangements like steamships, the petro economy, and containerisation have transformed the industry, the contemporary pursuit of decarbonisation and digitalisation is driving another major transformation. Today, corporations, governmental and supranational organisations, and non-profit organisations, each with their own interests and concerns, are seeking to decarbonise the industry, with digitalisation increasingly emerging as a central approach. I am currently conducting qualitative fieldwork in Copenhagen to observe how these stakeholders communicate, collaborate, and coordinate in this endeavour, with a particular interest in the role of scientists and engineers. Ultimately, I seek to better understand the world by critically examining the ongoing transformation in a constituent part of it,” says Kei Kato.