We have all heard the expression ‘don’t run before you can walk’, but in the maritime industry, it seems that we might be getting a little bit ahead of ourselves in the rush to realise ‘the age of autonomous shipping’.
This is not to malign the capabilities of the global shipping industry achieving increasingly smart, digitalised, automated operations. As a technology company, at Softship, naturally we welcome all enthusiasm for the adoption of new concepts, advanced digital tools and technologies, and we very much promote the benefits that the right software solutions can bring to companies across the supply chain.
We also know that there is equal benefit to exercising prudence in the pursuit of a new dawn for the shipping industry. Put bluntly, there is a considerable chasm to breach between the baseline level of IT capability across the average shipping organisation today, and the goal of Industry 4.0. Over the past few years, an array of new tools emblematic of the digital transformation have been trialled across the shipping industry – advanced robotics, 3D printing, blockchain, and big data networks connecting people, machines, systems, processes, and customers. Many of these tools are now being made commercially available and look promising; but we are a long way off being able to utilise them properly.
Are we chasing a pipedream?
Of the larger Industry 4.0 projects, in recent years we have seen several global organisations, including many from outside of conventional shipping, partnering with leading maritime industry players, to develop new and innovative solutions to enhance the shipping supply chain. This includes initiatives such as the blockchain enterprise between IBM and Maersk, as well as significant academic research projects which seek to provide the framework for the industry to move forward towards making autonomous shipping a tangible, safe and commercially viable reality.
Regardless, the conclusions show that truly autonomous shipping is a long way off for the majority. The common-sense deduction here being that a concerted effort should first be made to raise the baseline IT and technological capabilities across the maritime industry in order to move us closer to a point of readiness. Generally speaking, the adoption of automation technologies across the shipping industry has been very slow, certainly across the broader supply chain. Getting to a position where all stakeholders are sufficiently ready to adapt to a sizeable shift in how goods are shipped from A-to-B remains a bit of a pipedream. The main problem: as an industry, we are starting from a low base in terms of technological readiness, awareness and capability.
Shattering the illusion
A key barrier to the digital transformation of the supply chain is that the industry is exceptionally complex, fragmented and disparate. No shipping business is the same as the next. In terms of IT capability in particular, while some shipping businesses utilise highly integrated software solutions, which they can work from on-the go; anywhere at any time. Other businesses meanwhile, still rely on a smorgasbord of desktop programmes from a range of operators and providers, accessible only from their office computer.
This way of working ties us to a single location. It ties us to working only with businesses which work in a similar, and often inefficient, way. This way of working is also not ‘integrated’ – the separate systems, tools, processes and documents are not aligned in a way that they automatically talk to each other. All companies will have an accounting package, and most will operate systems to manage the various commercial and operational requirements. But it’s less common for these systems to communicate with each other. The systems and processes are not integrated, and therefore departments are working in silos, and not as a coordinated and integrated organisation.
The best tools for achieving integration are purpose-built software systems. It is only through integrating these packages that efficiencies can be made, and ‘true’ digitalisation achieved. Perhaps more importantly, upgrading technological capabilities, and ensuring they are properly integrated, will be increasingly important in being able to compete in future.
Finding our feet again
The good news is that pushing the entire shipping supply chain toward a new baseline of IT capability through the more widespread use of digitalized and integrated IT solutions, is very achievable. Twenty or so years ago incorporating integrated technology into business was the prerogative of only the very large shipping companies.
Today however, options such as Softship’s ALFA, LIMA and Softship.SAPAS packages can cater to the business processes of liner and port agents of any size. These solutions offer complete integration using a modular ‘off the shelf’ format of software packages that means digital integration should no longer be problematic or particularly costly to organisations of any size.
Armed with ‘true’ digitalisation – the adoption of all-encompassing IT solutions or platforms that enable the majority of routine tasks of a shipping department to be undertaken seamlessly – we will be able to consider shipping ready to move forward. Or at least, we will be able to consider shipping ready to entertain the idea of one day transforming into an industry capable of moving goods on autonomous vessels.
*Managing Director of Softship Data Processing Ltd, Singapore