Analyzing business responses, particularly in the maritime context, has become increasingly urgent with the escalation of climate change impacts. This study employs a Systematic Literature Review based on thirty-three publications to investigate the barriers hindering maritime port decarbonization. The analysis led to the identification of twenty-five barriers. The four most cited barriers are high costs, low technology availability and readiness, complexity of the industry, and global policy gaps and instability. This study highlights the interrelationships of the barriers and emphasizes the need for a multifaceted approach to address the complexity of port decarbonization. It is proposed that future research explores the interdependency between the challenges of decarbonizing maritime ports, which must be examined to achieve sustainable operations across the maritime transport sector.