In the not-so-distant past, the shipping industry relied heavily on executive experience, manufacturing reliability, and… “hammer and wrench” analog logic to keep all gears working perfectly. However, all this sounds like a “stone age” reality today, as the industry is evolving at a machine gun pace.
Under the microscope of international organizations and the global maritime community are a number of factors, such as fuel consumption restrictions, issues related to the automation of ships, the efforts made for more efficient and economical operation of the ship, always in view of environmental Protection.
- Carbonization
What is considered undeniable is that digitization and decarbonisation must go hand in hand in order to achieve the upcoming green goals. In this context, according to the ship management giant V. Group, 80% of decarbonisation in the next decade will come from the optimization of active assets. At the same time, the digitization of all operations at sea and on land will play a key role.
According to Splash, the head of investment firm AboutShips, Manish Singh, talks about the digital shipping of 2030, pointing out that artificial intelligence and greater digitization will continue to change the image of shipping. Changes that will become evident in the integrated management of the bridge, engine room and cargo.
- The data
As ships become increasingly complex, the data they generate becomes difficult to manage, requiring a consistent investment in software engineering. The successful, traditional management model that involved closely monitoring all the daily activities of a shipping company seems unable to thrive, due to the increased demands and the huge amount of data.
Collecting reliable data is still a huge issue for ship owners. Of particular importance is the ability to optimize on the right data.
- The automation
Market executives emphasize that automation will grow in leaps and bounds. The engine room, for example, will experience a high degree of automation with monitoring and control systems for engines, fuel systems and other machinery. At the same time, optimization of performance and diagnosis of technical problems is foreseen.
On the higher decks, it is noted that the bridge will be an important field of application of automation. Whether it’s about navigation systems or course control and optimizing a journey. The vice president of the Korean classifier Yeontae Kim notes that by 2030 ships can become much “smarter” and much “greener” with the use of technology.
- The crews
It may take a long time for technological innovations to be fully adopted, but the increasing automation of all ship functions could lead to a significant design change. The ships of the future will require less crew, to the point that the accommodation compartments will become considerably smaller and the cargo spaces will be larger.
Newly built ships will have advanced autonomous systems, however sailors will be able to intervene and manually take control of these systems at any time.
- AI solutions
The adoption of AI solutions in the shipping industry is still in its infancy, but there is huge potential. At present the technology is mainly focused on reducing fuel consumption, resulting in lower CO2 emissions and operating costs. A new report from Lloyd’s Register (please read the analysis titled “The Sea and Capitalism“) shows that traditional and legacy data analytics look at only 10% of the data provided, while artificial intelligence models will be able to process almost 100%, generating highly accurate vessel performance information on fuel consumption and speed.
