Sea Asia 2019 day two closed with a panel where the participants talked about fleet management of the future and explored how shipowners will adopt digitalization to truly optimise their fleet operations.
Mainly, moderated by Geir Isene, Head of Innovations at Dualog, the panel included Hideyuki Ando, Senior General Manager at MTI (NYK Group); Silje Moan, Chief Operating Officer at Dualog; Sanjeev Namath, Chief Business Officer at Alpha Ori Technologies; and, Tiong Kee Yong, Vice President, IT at BW Group.
The discussion was based on the possibility that digitalization will boost efficiencies and better decision-making for the industry.
Automation was the key word of the discussion, with all panellists supporting that ship automation is nowhere near; Yet, they stated that the industry will see autonomous technologies complement human operations.
The panel highlighted that digitalisation will result in a more connected, highly autonomous but still human-centred operation.
In addition, the panellists agreed that collaboration is of a big importance, and must be dual: from ship to shore.
Mr Namath added that using real time data in meaningful business applications can be developed to improve productivity, efficiency and mitigation of losses.
He continued that ultimately digitalisation is not an option anymore, it is a question of the industry surviving.
In the meantime, the panellists noted that digitalization is facing barriers since the shipping industry has some intrinsic factors, as the limited space and power on a vessel, and network connectivity lapses out at sea. The duration ships are at sea in any given voyage also means technicians will have a hard time accessing the vessels.
The panellists agreed that creating an echo-system for data-sharing among the industry will be crucial in the future, but they recognised the challenges in doing this without the development of regulations and standards in which to share information.
Ultimately, the panel concluded in acknowledging that the future of fleet management is in digitalization, transparency and collaboration.
