Shoring up on technological opportunities

“There are few industries as defiantly opaque as shipping. Even offshore bankers have not developed a system as intricately elusive as the flag of convenience, under which ships can fly the flag of a state that has nothing to do with its owner, cargo, crew, or route.” Rose George

Statistics highlight that more than 90 percent of world trade is carried by the international shipping industry. Without which, international trade in high volumes would have been nigh impossible. At present, there around 50,000 merchant ships trading globally, moving every manner of cargo; it is imperative to assess the advancements in the sector. Especially how fleets operate and implement technologically effectively and efficaciously. Being that the world fleet is registered in over 150 nations, and manned by over a million seafarers of virtually every nationality.

As sea trade continues to expand and become more efficient, it brings in benefits for consumers, markets and industries across the world. Ostensibly, much of this emphasis on faster and more efficient trade has been driven by technological advances. The advent of automation, cloud computing and satellite based navigation has opened up new vistas for the sector.

In the Indian context, the country’s vast coastline of 7500 kilometers offers a significant investment opportunity as manufacturing ramps up. The government has been promoting coastal shipping in a big way and developing 14,000 kms of navigable inland waterways in the country. There are plans underway by the Indian government to foster the development of 10 coastal economic regions part of the country’s Sagarmala (string of ports) project. The coastal zones would be converted into manufacturing hubs, supported by port modernisation projects, and could span 300-500 kilometre of the coastline.This can only be achived by using the right mix of technology and investments while integrating it into the country’s maritime vision.

Oasis of opportunity

Technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the very practice of trade in shipping. It is with the advent of such technology that connections across the globe with various channels involved in the integration of trade can drive the competency so seamlessly.

Globalisation and containerisation are two trends that have taken the shipping industry by storm and has led to a tremendous focus on enhancing core competencies. For a capital intensive industry; disruptive technologies such as high throughput satellite communications, more effective data analytics, greater autonomy and robotics, and new methods of information sharing have come to play a crucial role. These factors and environmental concerns, such as shifting propulsion technology towards zero emissions technologies, batteries, as well as the monitoring of system performance are areas where further optimisation is sought.

Aditya Gaur, Manager Business Development, Transnav Ship Management, observes, “Technology provides cutting edge for planning, monitoring and execution of safe shipping operations. The latest communication technology reduces vessel down time and there is considerable drop in human errors. The combination of efficient software's and cost effective hardware has made shipping environment more conducive.”

At the organisational level, the strategy that shipping companies companies have espoused include finding ways operational issues and regulatory challenges, and seeking out means to be more competitive and environmentally and financially sustainable. The industry needs to harness the potential from large volume data processing and analytics, and fast communications between ship and shore. Smart use of data means shall enable shipping organisations to be less intrusive and more predictive in the way that they work with asset owners and companies.

Ergo, quality and the reliability of the data are the key drivers of technological adoption and change in the shipping sector.

Sharing his thoughts on the evolution of the shipping industry, Anoop Sharma, MD, Essar Shipping, asserts, “Supply chain will evolve to have better integration, reduction in number of slippages, elimination of unwanted procedures leading to a value added supply chain. Technology within the maritime environment will evolve to bring in better mobility, closer connections and access to an untapped business environment. In India specifically, technology will have a larger role to play with the focus led by the Govt. towards maritime sector development. As of today, 65 percent of Indian maritime business is implemented by foreign ships.”

Maritime trade has progressed from small ships used for movement of goods or break bulk to voluminous trade of commodities at faster speed and safer seas. It has indirectly led to development of allied industries and emerging economies to support this growth. Infrastructure development in the form of ports, smart cities, employment, exports and earnings in foreign currency have put non – accessible countries/routes as trade destinations on global maps.

Gaur adds,” Already efforts are on for implementing advanced automation, "Big Data" is widely talked amongst shipping circles and supply to vessel in international waters via drones is successfully executed few months back. These are all revolutionary, environment friendly and sustainable measures which will change the facet of future vessel operation. Logistic costs will come down drastically and there will be further cost saving in tracking of shipments.”

Technology revolution on the anvil
Further simplified and digitized shore controlled vessel navigation will take some time to implement and become viable for entire shipping fraternity to get used to associated risks.

Providing his insight about digitilisation of shipping processes, Anand Sharma, Director, Mantrana Maritime Advisory, says, “There is a need for more reforms in the shipping sector. There is a need to bring in more efficency and opimisation. New technologies are bringing about a sea change in the approach towards shipping. However, the implementation is taking time.”

Despite these factors, some ship system suppliers and integrators have embraced the advances in digital technology. Companies like ABB, Caterpillar and Wärtsilä have developed digital remote monitoring and diagnostics services involving machinery sensors feeding back data to shore for analysis.

Nazneen Ansari, CISA Director, IT Solutions, Matrix 3D, shares her insight as solutions provider for the shipping industry, “There are commensurate challenges in providing a complete and robust IT solution system for a shipping company that runs fleets of ships. One of the things that we did to ensure collaboration is to migrate and archive data on to a cloud based system. We also have to overhaul the hardware at the enterprise level to a more contemporary standard while enhancing security measures for data protection.”

Thus there has been a need for a complete overhaul in management and the approach towards business in the shipping sector. Consequentially, disruptive technologies have led to  all facets in maritime business such as cargo handling, sailing at sea, emergency procedures, maintenance, ship- building, fuel conservation , crew management , communication etc becoming over the years become more and more complex and yet resolvable at real time with the technology that the industry has developed to improve the shipping sectors’ core competency “Trade”.
Sharma adds, “Technology in the shipping sector is using solutions where applications are catering to growing business needs. Recent developments in the shipping business such as the digitization of navigation, bandwith connectivity while at sea, real-time performance assessments, energy efficiency operations, and better customer experience in cruise ships shall lead to the next transformation in the shipping business.”

The advent of these technologies has also led to a need for standardisation to enable their implementation across the supply chain. Since, often there is a need for a greater degree of collobration in which the shipping sector is a pivotal part of.
Emphasising upon the need for common standards for technology, Gur Prasad Kohli, Vice President / Head of South Asia, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics , says, “More than ever before, there will be need for more collaboration amongst the different players in supply chain towards working on common standards and sharing technology investments across the supply chain. Technology service providers will not only need to bring in technology but also think of innovative business and financial model to make it cost-effective to leverage these technologies across the supply chain.”

This has also impelled a need for an increased adoption of ERP systems to enhance and ensure efficiency on board.  Given that ERP systems help achieve a consonance between processes and technologies in a more streamlined fashion.

Kohli highlights some of the key aspects of an ERP system, he adds,” It is imperative that ERP systems are built with functionaility keeping the shipping industry in mind. Apart from ease of use and a contemporary interface, all ERP systems must have open standards that can be easily integrated by customers, suppliers and regulators. For this purpose, APIs with industry and technology platform and services must be created. The approach should be multi-channel and mobile first with an emphasis on the cloud. Finally, an optimal ERP system be cost effective in terms of maintenance and should use a licensing model.”
Furthermore, for the shipping industry, mobile communication provides the opportunity to employ new and efficient ways of addressing fleet management, managing delivery times, improving interaction with vessels, enabling proactive issue resolution and prompt information sharing with customers and even improving energy efficiency. The information can be used for managing maintenance strategies, improving machinery operation and reducing costs. Companies like Jotun are using monitoring data to improve hull and propulsion performance. These aspects have led to a paradigm shift in the core business dynamics of the shipping sector.

Apart from these factors, the industry’s highly competitive nature means that technological adoption becomes a means for market differentiation for shipping companies.  It also safeguards companies from the highly volatile nature of international markets since the sector is driven entirely by volumes. The recent fall in oil prices for instance was cause for much consternation in the sector and placed a great degree of emphasis on optimized and streamlined processes that enabled shipping organizations to cut down on redundancies while allowing optimization to drive margins for survival.

Observing these trends of rapid technological adoption in the shipping industry, John S. Dunlop, International Development at Solon Software (an organization that provides customisatied software solutions for the shipping sector, says, “There is a noticeable and substantial appetite for technology in the shipping sector. What was recently science fiction is rapidly evolving into science fact, and the once unimaginable is now possible. There is no reason to believe that this trend will slow and every reason to know that it will develop. Consumer demand plays a very important role in development of technologies and this is a supreme driving force; and software houses must be able to adapt and upgrade to suit these demands.”

And while a lot of ground work is already completed in the Indian context, however there is a need for a greater degree of engagement and involvement from private sector is required. There are grappling concerns associated with infrastructure, timing of the projects which leads to lot of time loss in policy adoption and execution. PPL (Public/Private Partnership) is the need of hour involving fit to use requirement for implementing complex technological solutions in shipping industry.

Vishal Dhawan, Vice President, ASEAN & India, JDA Sofwtare (that provides the software for INTRRA’s containter automation system) explains how technological adoption is a critical strategic initiative, he avers, “Adoption of advanced supply chain technologies is the critical strategic initiative for shipping companies to both serve the rising demands of omni-channel consumers as well as maintain profitability. The JDA Transportation Management System (TMS), for example, creates sustainable value by synchronizing all of a shipper’s critical transportation processes to deliver both optimal cost control and excellent service.”

JDA has joined forced  with INTTRA  which is a the electronic transaction platform and information provider at the center of the ocean shipping industry.