Maritime Language Barriers Covered by New ASTM Report
The paper addresses misaligned maritime terms across different referenceable sources.
Aug 04, 2025
A report from ASTM’s digital information in the supply chain committee (F49) provides critical insights into standardizing maritime terminology for harmonizing global trade.
The report, titled “Resolving Data Language Barriers across Maritime Standards Vocabularies (TR5-EB)”, digs into the lack of a commonly used standard set of terms for supply chains. This report was authored by industry experts Michael Darden, Jaco Voorspuij, Rob Handfield, and Jack Crumbly, who are familiar with maritime terms and have decades of experience in the logistics industry.
"When exchanging information, commonly used terms and definitions are needed to ensure what is sent is what is understood," says Jaco Voorspuij, chair of subcommittee F49.04.
“In April 2023, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) released their report on its investigations into the disruption of the flow of cargo through ports into and out of the United States from 2019 to 2023,” says Darden, technical contact for the related work item and chair of subcommittee F49.01. “The FMC Maritime Transport Data Initiative (MTDI) report includes a lexicon of 200 terms and their definitions are key to stakeholder communication. While this was a good first step, we discovered that it exposed long-standing challenges, and work must be done to address the inconsistencies.”
“Standardization is the foundation for supply chain integration,” says Handfield.
ASTM F49 seeks to identify and support standards development and adoption for global supply chain processes covering all major modes of transport (maritime, short-sea, road, rail, inland waterways, air) and commodities (containerized, bulk and project)
This technical paper compares the MTDI Lexicon with glossaries from the:
- Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA),
- Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP),
- Association of Supply Chain Management (ASCM),
- GS1 (a global non- profit organization for data standards),
- U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD),
- United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), and
- World Customs Organization (WCO).
“The published technical report provides information for shippers, carriers, regulators, and supply chain professionals, moving towards a harmonized, unified language that will drive greater efficiency and resilience in global trade,” notes Crumbly.
A supplemental report is already underway, expanding the evaluation into additional glossaries. Student members are welcome in several phases of the project. Proposed modifications to defined terms would be balloted through ASTM in the future. To join or learn more about the project, visit https://go.astm.org/f49.
Media Inquiries: Gavin O’Reilly, tel +1.610.832.9618; goreilly@astm.org
Partnership Contact: Jennifer Tursi, +1.610.832.9653; jtursi@astm.org
Release #12055
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