Time to turn the page on logbooks! Digital efficiency, compliance and sustainability at sea

2025 has been a year of transformation for shipping companies and digital logbooks, reveals Amitabh Sankranti, Director of Shipping Analytics, NAVTOR. With streamlined administration, smarter decision making, real-time insights, and simplified compliance, Amitabh anticipates a new wave of adoption in 2026 and beyond.

The industry is catching on to the power of digital logbooks.

As we approach the end of 2025, I’m proud to reveal that NAVTOR now supplies almost 5,000 digital logbooks to around 1,200 vessels (an average of over four digitised logbooks per ship).

Behind those numbers lies a quiet revolution, as a 21st century solution (finally) reshapes an age old approach to data capture - supercharging compliance, efficiency, sustainability, and operational insights for forward thinking shipowners.

Scaling up

When you translate the progress into real-world volumes, the scale is striking.

Across our customers’ fleets, vessels collectively recorded over 4.39 million digital logbook entries this year - or around 15,000 entries every day, at more than 10 entries a minute, right around the clock. Of these, more than 9.6 signatures are securely captured every minute to validate onboard operations.

On average that means we are saving more than 400 physical pages per vessel, per year – adding up to nearly half a million pages that have been saved from hasty handwriting in 2025!

But the benefits go far beyond saved paper.

Digitised solutions mean no more stockpiles of physical logbooks. No more shipping archives from office to office. No more manual corrections, stamps, handwriting deciphering, or duplicated entries… while changes in vessel name, flag, or ownership are seamless, with no physical transfers, and no lost records.

Digitalisation has made logkeeping not only simpler, but significantly more efficient.

And, potentially, transformative.

Strengthening sustainability

What began as a move away from paper is evolving into an operational, and environmental, gamechanger - with a new ability to measure, manage, and reduce environmental impact with precision.

Digital logbooks now give us near-live visibility of environmental performance - allowing us to track everything from garbage and sludge generation to ballast water operations, effluent discharge, and ozone-depleting substances. What once relied on handwritten entries of varying clarity can now be viewed on dynamic dashboards, trended over time, analysed across fleets, and ultimately used to drive measurable improvement.

What you can measure, you can control…and what you can control, you can improve.

Crew and shore teams are no longer just complying; they’re optimising. They’re making data-informed decisions that support more sustainable operations and a higher overall quality of performance.

Staying ahead without the hassle

With every new regulation, the workload for crews increases… but digital logbooks are here to take the strain.

For example, when the latest ballast water reporting requirements entered into force, our users achieved overnight compliance with just a simple rules update in the software. Operations continued as normal, while the system automatically ensured correct reporting with absolutely minimal crew training and familiarisation.

Compliance made simple!

Enhanced port reports, coastal state documents, and other region-specific requirements are now generated at the click of a button, and as we continue integrating sensor data, we’re reducing manual entry even further.

One source of truth, multiple automated outputs - that is the power of digitalisation.

Embracing the future now

Digital logbooks are no longer an experiment in innovation, or a niche solution, they are a proven, scalable, high-value operational asset delivering benefits across compliance, sustainability, efficiency, and safety. And with the industry moving steadily toward mandatory digital reporting, the window for early advantage is open now.

At NAVTOR, we’re committed to supporting our customers through this transition - making logkeeping not just digital, but smarter, simpler, and more sustainable.

The shift is happening. Make sure you’re on the right side of this change.

Now is the time to go digital!

Have a great festive season and see you in 2026.