2026/06/19 by İlknur Gizem Yazar Okur, Rasim İlker Gökbulut
Business, Management and Accounting · Engineering · #Maritime Ports and Logistics #Outsourcing and Supply Chain Management #Supply Chain Resilience and Risk Management
paper · doi:10.1002/tjo3.70030
crossref issued 2026/06/19 · crossref published 2026/06/19 · crossref published-online 2026/06/19 · openalex publication_date 2026/06/19 · openalex created_date 2026/06/20 · crossref created 2026/06/20 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/20 · crossref published-print 2026/07/01 · crossref deposited 2026/07/28 · crossref indexed 2026/07/28
ABSTRACT Freight forwarders are key intermediaries coordinating logistics operations in maritime container transportation, which is itself vital to global supply chains. Freight forwarders face diverse operational challenges to service quality, efficiency, and financial sustainability. Despite the importance of freight forwarders, research has predominantly focused on ports and shipping lines, while risks specific to freight forwarders remain insufficiently understood. To address this gap, our study draws on expert interviews and a MAXQDA‐based thematic analysis to categorize these risks. The findings show that these challenges are exacerbated by unreliable schedules, geopolitical disruptions, and heightened cybersecurity exposures due to accelerating digitalization. The study contributes toward developing a freight‐forwarder‐focused risk assessment framework, suggests theoretically grounded directions for future mitigation research, and offers practice‐oriented implications to contextualize the findings.