The 2023 SMART4SEA Forum successfully concluded on 1st of February at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) at the Bookcastle of the National Library of Greece, focusing on key trends that shape the digital future of the maritime industry.
After three years of the pandemic, this was the first live event in which industry stakeholders gathered once again all together and exchanged their views on what digitalization will bring forward. The case for digital is clear for the whole business world and the maritime sector as well. Industry’s activity on the world’s oceans is becoming greener and more autonomous. New promising digital solutions can reduce global emissions and several stakeholders have realized that digitalization disrupts the industry.
Considering that we are approaching a major energy transition, we expect many technological innovations to come into place and transform the current landscape. In that regard, the event highlighted major technological achievements and breakthroughs that support smart shipping and focused on the key challenges and main priorities of industry’s smart agenda.
The event was organized by SAFETY4SEA having as lead sponsors the following organizations: MacGregor and SQEMARINE. Other sponsors were: ARCADIA SHIPMANAGEMENT CO. LTD, Blue Planet Shipping Ltd, Capital-Executive Ship Management Corp., Capital Gas Ship Management Corp., Capital Shipmanagement, Columbia Ship Management, Diaplous Group, Dorian LPG, Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Limited (EASTMED), EURONAV, Latsco Marine Management Inc., Marpoint, MINTRA, NAPA, OCEAN Techologies Group, OSM Maritime, RISK4SEA, SEAFiT, Steamship Mutual, Tototheo Maritime, VesOPS, WinGD.
Opening the event, Mr. Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA, welcomed the distinguished delegates and thanked both sponsors and speakers for their support. He mentioned the top business risks according to Allianz Barometer survey and presented key challenges and trends concerning maritime digitalization. Again, cyber incidents and business interruption top the list as economic and energy risks rise. Cyber security has been over the last years the first non-natural threat to the global risk landscape. Mr. Belokas also presented key recommendations from a recent WESS project concerning the impact of digitalization for people onboard and highlighted notable smart shipping developments.
Panel #1 – Smart Technologies in Shipping
In the first panel, moderated by Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA, the following experts participated: Savvas Delis, Head of Sales, Marpoint; Evangelos Tzitzis, Unmanned Systems Manager, Diaplous Group; Fotis Tsitsirigkos, Fleet IT Manager; and Themistoklis Sardis, IT Manager, Costamare Shipping Company S.A. Panellists discussed about the key drivers and barriers on the Shipping 4.0 era, emerging technology breakthroughs and referred to technological developments and future smart technologies that will transform shipping.
The panel also included presentations from the following experts:
Mr. Savvas Delis, Head of Sales, Marpoint, referred to the most promising trends and innovations currently taking place in the maritime shipping industry. These are: Green Technology; Fast Satellite Communications onboard Ships; 5G onboard Ships and; Sensor technology and Performance Monitoring. During his presentation, Mr Delis briefly discussed these trends and focused mainly on the role of IT as a driver for Technological excellence in the maritime industry. He concluded with the following best IT practices: Build a solid IT Infrastructure in order to effectively manage the new technologies; Provide a friendly environment to the end-user for the central management of all new technologies; Apply best Cyber Security practices.
Mr. Evangelos Tzitzis, Unmanned Systems Manager, Diaplous Group, highlighted that surveys improve ship safety and protect both the seafarers and environment. Regulatory and monitoring farmwork of ships and offshore structures’ surveys is well established and continuously updated by all administrative entities (IMO, IACS, Flags etc.). Close-up survey is of the most important type of surveys. Traditional methods are gradually hand over a considerable volume of close-up surveys to the Remote Inspection Techniques (RIT) with the use of UAS (drones). Digitalization in the way of Visualization, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) applications comprise the challenging factor towards the long-run goal for RIT Autonomy, he concluded.
Mr. Themistoklis Sardis, IT Manager, Costamare Shipping Company S.A. explained that there are several AI applications in the shipping industry, including automation of cargo handling and management, optimization of routes and logistics, and predictive maintenance of ships and other equipment. AI-powered systems can analyze vast amounts of data on weather, sea conditions, and ship performance to improve efficiency and safety. In addition, AI-powered drones and autonomous ships are being developed to handle tasks such as cargo inspection and delivery. Overall, AI has the potential to significantly improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the shipping industry.
Panel #2 – Human Factors in the Smart Shipping Era
The second panel, moderated by Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA, focused on ways to minimize human error in the smart shipping era. The following experts engaged in discussions around latest smart shipping developments affecting Seafarers: Valentinos Steliou, Innovation Director, Mintra; Johan Gustafsson, Chief Revenue Officer, Ocean Technologies Group and; Ross Millar, Loss Prevention Associate, Steamship Mutual
The panel also included presentations from the following experts:
Today we all talk about Personalized Learning, Agile Learning, Learning through multiple sources, Engaging learning methods, learning paths, useful and processed data and analytics. However,
Mr. Valentinos Steliou, Innovation Director, Mintra, highlighted that in order to go the extra mile, we need to ask ourselves what is the impact of these emerging technologies to the seafarer, to individual organizations and to the maritime industry as a whole. Citing the example of a solution provided by Mintra, he referred to the benefits of AI and machine learning. The development of the next generation of seafarers calls for tools and means beyond the capabilities of our best tools available today, he concluded.
Mr. Johan Gustafsson, Chief Revenue Officer, Ocean Technologies Group, highlighted that we have several demands from the seafarers of tomorrow; at the same time, we want to be competent, with good seamanship, to withstand challenges and be resilient and have many soft skills. In that regard, technology can help in a number of ways. Taking into account the challenges of connectivity in maritime and some parts of the world ashore, a robust system that ensures training can continue anytime and anywhere, adds value. Visibility and control in a single ecosystem makes life easier for all people onboard and ashore.
Mr. Ross Millar, Loss Prevention Associate, Steamship Mutual, gave a presentation titled “Augmented Reality adoption: Prospects & Hurdles for Navigational Safety in Shipping”, explaining the benefits of such systems, which training standards are vital and what kind of experience is needed towards. He also referred to the skills required, highlighting that we need to step out of the traditional skills and follow the emerging trends.
Panel #3 – Ship Performance
The last panel of the forum, moderated by Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA, tackled with technology issues limitations and the key challenges to meet the needs of advanced performance and monitoring. The following experts joined the discussions: Dr. Carmelo Cartalemi, General Manager, Global Sales, WinGD; Dimitris Mytilinis, Performance Engineer, Latsco Marine Management Inc; and Ossi Mettälä, Sales Manager, NAPA Shipping Solutions.
The panel also included presentations from the following experts:
Dr. Carmelo Cartalemi, General Manager, Global Sales, WinGD, explained that shipping companies need to efficiently manage the ship to keep the OPEX as low as possible. In that regard, a digital ecosystem is vital to allow getting valuable information on the engine performance and conditions to avoid waste of resources and time. He referred to his company’s solution that allow the engine’s performance and components to be monitored in real-time and be benchmarked with the digital twins that provide quick troubleshooting solutions to empower the crew on board to execute maintenance work and operate the engine, and ship at the best.
Mr. Dimitris Mytilinis, Performance Engineer, Latsco Marine Management Inc, mentioned that Latsco has adopted predictive maintenance principles for equipment onboard. Operational parameters of critical machineries are being measured utilizing smart technologies and modern techniques, such as vibration analysis, high-end infrared thermography, artificial intelligence and big data. This transition to the Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) program drives equipment inspection well beyond the traditional approach of Planned Maintenance. In this respect, the adoption of the CBM Class Notation (ABS) acts as a stepping stone for Latsco, Mr. Mytilinis highlighted.
The shipping industry is moving forward fast on both the technological on the regulatory front noted Mr. Ossi Mettälä, Sales Manager, NAPA Shipping Solutions. As such, solutions with the right-sized scoping and smart data utilization are in great demand enabling end users to focus on their primary task receiving timely decision-making support without extra effort or heavy upfront investments. Combining the correct data with the right algorithms provides valuable insight into vessel performance and CII, and even gives a possibility to optimize the entire fleet operation minimizing port congestions and unnecessarily high operation speeds, he said.
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