Roman historians (Polybius, etc.) explained it as offering the Romans a way to fight as they did on land - drop your spiked drawbridge on the enemy ship, then fight hand-to-hand. On the other hand, the Carthaginians came from the very long Phoenician maritime tradition, which would never have given them a reason to even think about fighting in that manner. That Phoenician tradition is also what informed Persian and Greek seamanship, hence why they all had fairly similar approaches to naval warfare. The Romans started with a clean slate, and their very unconventional solution was somewhat successful, at least allowing them to hold firm at sea until they overthrew Carthage by land.