The key to the future of shipping

Big data era, come suddenly, come violently. While it brings hope to the industry, it also leaves everyone feeling at sea. Since the financial crisis of 2008, the shipping and shipbuilding industry has been shrouded in fog. The advent of the age of big data is like a ship on an endless sea suddenly receiving the light of a lighthouse ahead. However, the direction is found, but I do not know which is the most effective way.

Core competitiveness in the future

When it comes to digitising shipping, everyone is feeling their way across the river. They have their own ways, so there is a buzz of competition. However, because each situation and understanding of digital is different, no one knows which is the most efficient way to get to the lighthouse.

Recently, some experts have given the answer: in the next decade, as big data technologies (artificial intelligence, mechanical intelligence, intelligent devices, etc.) continue to mature, will promote the virtual world and the real world will continue to converge. Data-based service system and ecological platform will become the core competitiveness of the industry. The expert explained that over time, digitization will bring about disruptive changes to business models. In the future shipping industry, assets will become services, with a solid digital foundation to provide a full range of personalized services to achieve customer stickiness; Service will become the system, cooperate with multiple industry partners to promote innovation, grasp information and implement customer-centered business insight to realize the organic linkage of business forms; The system will become an ecological platform, leading the open, ecological and balanced cooperation, docking rich and diverse external content, subverting the relationship between traditional shipping enterprises and shippers, and transforming from pure transaction to mutually beneficial cooperation to create value.

With the passage of time, the ancient shipping industry also began to slowly "disintegrate", at the same time, there was a powerful subversive force slowly gathering, just waiting for the opportunity to erupt in thunder.

Shipping in a cocoon

With the continuous development of shipping digitization, the business form of the industry is also changing gradually. Digital operation enablement factor brings a disruptive trend to the industry.

Let the ship have wisdom. In December 2017, the world's first intelligent merchant ship iDolphin(intelligent dolphin type), 38,800 tons of intelligent bulk carrier "Dazhi", developed by China, was officially unveiled at the 19th China International Maritime Convention and Exhibition. The smart ship is equipped with the world's first self-learning Ship Intelligence Operation and Maintenance System (SOMS). The SOMS system has three subsystems: intelligent navigation, intelligent engine room and intelligent energy efficiency management, which can make the ship operation more in line with the safety, environmental protection and economic needs of The Times. Among them, the intelligent navigation system can calculate and analyze the ship condition, Marine environment and satellite navigation information of various shipping routes, and give suggestions on comprehensive routes that save time, fuel, comfort and cost. Moreover, the 500 sensors installed on the ship can collect internal and external information during the actual voyage of the ship, enriching its database and realizing autonomous "learning". It is understood that the platform can also be installed on a variety of ships, through the sharing platform to share the data of many ships. The launch of the ship is not only a milestone in the development of the global maritime industry, but also marks the arrival of the era of intelligent ships and intelligent shipping in China.

In August 2018, Kongsberg Maritime, a Norwegian partner of the Yara Birkeland, the world's first zero-emission fully automated container ship, announced Norway's Yara Group, the world's largest fertilizer maker, has signed a contract with Norwegian shipyard VARD for construction worth 250 million Norwegian kroner ($29.6 million), with deliveries expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020. It is understood that "Yara Birkeland" will be the world's first fully electric regional container ship, completely zero emissions. The Yara Birkeland will initially be operated manually, with fully automated operations expected in 2022. The ship will then be fully autonomous between the ports of Porthglen, Breivik and Larvik. The launch of the Yara Birkeland brings the development of digital shipping to another climax. Industry insiders say it could be a huge turning point in the history of global shipping.

Let information be shared. On April 10, 2019, four shipping giants -- Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping, Haberlotte and Ocean Network Express(ONE) -- launched the Digital Container Shipping Alliance (DSCA), which aims to promote standardization, digitalization and connectivity in container shipping. Coordinate information exchange among shipping company, customer and third party to improve efficiency for liner company and customer. It is understood that the plan will be through the ship sharing agreement, shipping companies will be able to transport their cargo on each other's ships. At present, due to the different communication systems used by different companies in the shipping industry, one company may not be able to obtain the cargo information of another company's ship, which may cause the customer to lose the cargo location information after the cargo is loaded. The job of the Alliance will therefore be to facilitate information sharing and ensure transport visibility.

Connect ship ports. In January 2018, Shanghai Yangshan Deep-water Port Automated Terminal Phase IV, the world's largest and most automated container terminal, was put into operation. This "devil terminal" adopts unmanned operation and unmanned operation. The customs also uses automated supervision equipment in the unmanned terminal for the first time to realize automatic clearance and clearance. According to the introduction, after the automation of the production management system, the crane control and storage yard operation, horizontal transportation do not need people to go to the dock, loading and unloading transportation equipment are all driven by electricity. The fourth phase of Yangshan adopts automatic loading and unloading equipment independently designed and manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry, in which the automatic guided transport vehicle (AGV) can not only work deep in the cantilever box area, but also shuttle back and forth in the yard, which can not only complete the all-weather uninterrupted operation, but also effectively reduce the energy consumption of the terminal. With intelligent systems, the AGV can determine its own driving route and effectively avoid collisions. The lithium battery powered AGV of Yangshan IV adopts the most cutting-edge technology. In addition to unmanned driving, automatic navigation, route optimization, active obstacle avoidance, it also supports self-fault diagnosis, self-power monitoring and other functions.

With the further deepening of exploration and attempts, enterprises have become more determined on the road of digital transformation. On January 15, 2018, Israeli shipping company Estar Line announced the appointment of Liav Geffen as the company's Chief Digital Officer (CDO). The position will further strengthen Estar Line's digital strategic position in the industry. On January 24, 2018, CMA Cma announced on its website that Rajesh Krishnamurthy, a former senior executive at Indian technology company Infosys, will be appointed as Senior Vice President of the Group on February 12 to accelerate the company's technological transformation and realize its ambition to become an industry leader in digital solutions. All these fully demonstrate that the digital transformation and upgrading of major enterprises have entered a period of acceleration. From the top-level design, gradually spread in all aspects of the company's business, in order to achieve technological innovation.

All kinds of signs show that, with the advance of the digital process, the closed structure of the ancient industry of shipping industry is being gradually broken, and a new form and division of labor are quietly forming.

Work together for a new journey

The shipping industry is a high-input industry with heavy management assets and high operating costs. At the same time, the market is changeable and unpredictable, the operation environment is complex, the market supply and demand are unbalanced for a long time, the industry competition is fierce, and environmental protection standards are becoming stricter, so that shipping enterprises have to maintain their effective competitiveness at all times, so as to occupy a place in the torrent and finally achieve sustainable development. Digital + shipping is the best way to drive development through innovation.

Mike Konstantinidis, CEO of Metis Cybertechnology, a new generation of digitalized companies, made it clear: "Anyone who doesn't adopt new digital technologies in the next few years will be marginalized because it's a matter of survival." In order to seize the opportunity at the advent of the digital age and get on the train of the digital wave smoothly, all parties also began to combine their own characteristics and actively explore the road of digital development.

Iris Leader, a large vehicle carrier owned by Nippon NyK, recently completed the world's first sea trial of an autonomous navigation system for a manned autonomous vessel based on international regulations. The ship has completed various trial projects under the Interim Guidelines for Testing Autonomous Vessels (MASS), which was recently released by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in June 2019. It is known that the ship is equipped with the Sherpa System for Real(SSR) ship navigation system, an optimal navigation program developed by NYK and Japan Marine Science (JMS), to avoid collisions with other ships. The practical experience and data gained from this voyage will further determine the availability of the SSR system and its benefits for safe and optimized operations, NYK said. This test is a key step for NYK to achieve manned autonomous ship research and development. In the future, NYK will analyze the data collected from this experiment and adjust the differences between the optimal route obtained by the program and the optimal route determined by human professional judgment to continue research and development in order to upgrade the SSR system to a more advanced navigation support system.

A 7.6-meter-long, 2,268-kg 3D-printed boat, named 3Dirigo, was unveiled at a laboratory at the University of Maine on Oct 10, local time. Dirigo is the Latin motto of Maine, meaning "I Lead." This is the world's largest 3D printer and the largest 3D printing object and 3D printing ship ever built, showing the future of 3D printing technology for models and prototype production. The ship is made in one piece in a 72-hour continuous printing process and costs about $40,000 to manufacture. The experts also proved that the printed boat could actually sail on water. During the ceremony, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, who represents Maine, boarded the ship and "sailed" inside the University of Maine's Ocean Simulator, a giant "indoor swimming pool." Habib Dag, founding director of the Composites Center at the University of Maine, said the example shows how large-scale 3D printing can create larger objects to help companies with product development. In addition, the University of Maine is collaborating with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee ona printer project that aims to create more robust and recyclable 3D-printed materials using biobased thermoplastics reinforced with cellulosic materials. If all goes well, the printer will be able to quickly turn out objects such as ship models or cement drums that can be recycled. The University of Maine Composites Center will then study how 3D printing technology can be used to improve the competitiveness of the local shipbuilding industry.

The Maxlimer, a 36-foot-long, yellow-and-white striped ship floating off the coast of England, has attracted worldwide attention. The Maxlimer, which is fully robotic, is scheduled to sail across the Atlantic next year. As a result, it is expected to become the first unmanned surface craft or unmanned surface vehicle (USV) to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The Maxlimer is the product of SEA-KIT, a maritime technology company based in south-east England, which aims to produce a flexible vessel that is cheaper and safer than manned vessels. As the Maxlimer eliminates the need for a support crew, the machine-supported vessel will allow more room for equipment, including small drones/boats and submarines that can be released and recovered, as well as 2.5 tonnes of cargo. The ship can sail at a leisurely speed of eight miles per hour until it runs out of fuel, for up to nine months at a time. The Maxlimer uses less than 5 percent of the fuel used by ocean-going ships. The Maxlimer made a quick voyage between Britain and Belgium in the first half of this year, carrying oysters and beer. In the short term, SEA-KIT is focused on the energy market, conducting Marine surveys, supporting oil and gas RIGS as well as wind turbines, and inspecting pipelines. But autonomous boats have other potential uses.

The Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) officially announced the new Digital Transformation Committee at the inaugural Technology and Demonstration Day organised by it. The Council will seek to enable the continued growth of the digital economy by leveraging digital capabilities to help member companies transform their business and operational models to achieve internal efficiencies, reduce costs and improve their services. The Technology and Demo Day aims to help shipping companies, including small and medium enterprises (smes), catalyze their adoption of technological innovations by connecting with technology start-ups. The initiative is also part of the SSA's Digital initiative to support the maritime industry, which is jointly facilitated by the InfoMedia Development Authority (IMDA), the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the Enterprise Development Authority of Singapore and the Skills Future Development Authority of Singapore.

There are many similar explorations and attempts to digitize the shipping industry. However, there is no denying that the current digitization process of the shipping industry is still "floating on the surface". It is in the stage of physical superposition on the surface, which is not deep enough and still faces many challenges. However, although there is a long road ahead, we believe that as long as the upstream and downstream industry chains of the whole industry cooperate, deep digital changes can be realized as soon as possible, the real industrial digital integration can be realized, and the win-win results of low cost and high value can be brought to the shipping industry.