Rashid Baba, Acting Chief Commercial Officer at Thuraya, argues that there is a missing link to the ‘smart shipping’ story – communications – and asks whether the industry recognises its value amid all the hype and hyperbole around digitisation.
During the dotcom boom of the early 2000s, it was sometimes said that, faced with a huge tide of technological change, it was arguably better to do something than do nothing and hope for the best.
The creative destruction that followed, with one over-valued venture after another foundering, left many companies wishing they had stayed put rather than gambling on the then still-emerging platform of the internet.
Nearly 20 years later, the same argument is being made, but from much firmer foundations. The new technology revolution – sometimes called business 4.0 – is forcing the shipping industry to consider new ways of working at a pace that is faster, more fundamental, more urgent than ever.
Not every new technology will be game-changer for shipping, not every trend is just hype, but being able to choose the tools needed for smarter operations is the challenge that a majority of owners need to address.
The major trends
Despite the emergence of a handful of ‘technology mega-trends’, many owners and managers are only recently adopting the applications that can drive improved productivity and generate the more transparent and accountable operations – and which will put them on the journey to smarter shipping.
Central to these are increased shoreside monitoring and control, whether through machine-to-machine connections of major equipment and systems, enhanced fleet management and enhanced connectivity to bridge and engine room teams.
The principal pressure point remains access to information for the owner or manager and the ability to share that data in a uniform way with partners and customers, a task that calls for a new approach to data analysis and vessel management.
Shipping companies have practised business intelligence techniques for years but this has tended to be a spreadsheet-driven activity focussed on a handful of key metrics in understanding vessel performance. It is also a process that has tended to come as much out of necessity as design.
When a charterer wants to check whether the owner was in compliance with terms of their charter party based on fuel consumed, or if a shipowner wants to understand whether newbuildings are performing to the contract specification, the data used to be gathered retrospectively if at all.
One reason historically for the lack of a data-driven or real-time monitoring process is the noon report – the standard (though far from standardised) means of providing key data from ship to shore. Often collated manually and produced in different formats for different users, the noon report was ripe for an overhaul and a new life as source of business intelligence.
Communications the enabler
With shipyards increasingly wiring up newbuildings and equipment manufacturers fitting more and more sensing and monitoring equipment, it has become possible to make the noon report a tool for understanding vessel performance and acting on the data it can provide.
For decades, while shipping was a connected industry, it was a case of think before you dial or click send. Until recently the costs of real time communications have been too high to enable the sort of smart shipping that we hear so much about.
Today, the critical element to enabling new technolog is not the data, or even the software but the communications platform that enables it.
The huge addition of capacity to what has traditionally been an undersupplied market, with new constellations of high throughput satellite capacity coming onstream rapidly across the bandwidth spectrum are designed to address the market more accurately than ever before.
It is no longer a case of everyone being obliged to buy the same system from which some will get better value than others. The network operators are finally addressing merchant, cruise, passenger, offshore, fishing and yachting as the distinct markets they have always been.
These days, communications also works harder. Solutions do not just compress data, they offer built-in services such as email, pre-pay, cyber intrusion prevention, segregated, prioritised networks and much better reporting for fleet managers.
The Way Forward
In 2018, shipping finds itself at a confluence of positive trends. An improving supply/demand picture for the most part is mirrored by the availability of new technology that makes it easier to comply with regulation and operate in a more efficient and optimised way.
Certainly challenges remain and some observers continue to believe that shipping will have to contend with large scale disruption to its business and operational models. Whether this proves to be true, there is no reason why operators and managers cannot take steps to make their businesses more efficient and connected.
While to adopt such a strategy requires outlay in terms of time and resources, the alternative business-as-usual scenario creates much bigger risks. Loss of competitive edge cannot always be fixed by cutting costs; retaining it means recognising that customers are looking for greater value from their service providers – shipping included.
By Rashid Baba, Acting Chief Commercial Officer, Thuraya
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
About Rashid Baba
Rashid Baba is the Acting Chief Commercial Officer at Thuraya, responsible for leading the commercial activities including sales, product management, marketing and communications. He is responsible for ensuring that Thuraya stays at the forefront of product innovation in the mobile satellite services industry and continues its momentum of growth across the products, services and key focus regions. With focus on innovation, Rashid played a key role in enriching the products and service portfolio at Thuraya and has been instrumental in making Thuraya the most innovative company in the MSS industry.
A seasoned telecommunications executive, Rashid is backed by over 20 years’ experience with leading telecommunications organizations. His experience lies in developing and executing the commercial strategy, introducing innovative products & services and establishing strategic commercial partnerships. Prior to Thuraya, he worked with Tata Communications where he was leading their mobile satellite services portfolio.
Rashid holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Kashmir.