A Data with Destiny

As shipping continues to evolve, maritime informatics is coming ever more to the fore. That means that new opportunities abound, but there are hurdles to overcome too. It isn’t about sitting back and letting the good times roll. In this brave new technological world, we need to understand that rubbish in, still means rubbish out…

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

Data. We hear the word constantly. We all probably have an idea of what it means. Do we all see it and understand it in the same way though, and is that a problem if we don’t? Are we moved, compelled and controlled by all the same data in the same way? I suspect not.

Put simply data is a collection of facts or numbers, which when collected and collated can be used to help decision making. So, while data should always give a clear indication of what has gone before, there are limitations, and also ways and means of managing the flows to make sure they deliver on their promises.

This conversely means that if we don’t monitor, gather, record and share in the most effective ways, then the data becomes tainted and the mechanisms for responding are likely to fail.

In maritime informatics, the data demands are in many ways driven by working backwards from a desired zen operational state. You know what you want to achieve, so you then set about understanding what needs to change to get to that position. Reverse positive management…dream big and then take giant strides to get you there.

MAKING IT WORK

Perhaps the earliest examples of maritime informatics in action were in hydrographic surveys and marine charts. Year after year, the data was captured and improvements were made. Occasionally ships ran aground, and the lessons learned made better charts for all. The data reflected the desired state of having charts that reflected reality. No mean feat 400 years ago, but we got there and have been improving all the time.

Today, data is making a difference to our knowledge, and by harnessing it we can make informed decisions about what we do to continually improve to get to the state we want to reach.

As Steen Erik Larsen of Maersk said when in his technology role, shipping has for centuries been plagued by “disjointed processes”. This has meant weaknesses, duplication, inefficiencies and waste of money, resources and effort. Using data is the key to breaking that spell and progressing. As I have written about before, this is data as the glue of maritime informatics, which brings everything together and sticks all our pieces to be greater than even the sum of the parts.

This is something that has long eluded shipping. Everyone stood alone, the deck from the engine, the ship from the shore, the charterers from the owners, and the world from shipping. That is changing, and it is by embracing data that we are making that huge step change.

SETTING THE RIGHT COURSE

The journey from thinking big and then being able to take the giant strides needed to get you there is a challenge on several fronts. There are technological demands, and there is the desire to make the change. These need to be aligned, otherwise, opportunities get lost or confused.

So, as we’ve discussed, when the decision to embrace maritime informatics is taken then the technology needs to be harnessed and in place. There is no way to collect data without the sensors, the kit and the connectivity to make it count.

As Mikael Lind, (the first real visionary of maritime informatics) has long stressed. This whole process is about glueing the many, many different actors of marine transportation together. So that each can understand and ultimately benefit from the data…remember, the “facts”, as each receives and sees the world.

This is about a shipping company being able to suddenly see the world through the entire lens of all. Maritime informatics is the Babelfish which allows the demands, challenges, hopes, needs, wants and desires of all within the maritime and supply chain to get the bigger picture, all at the same time. With actionable insights that can make things constantly better.

BUILDING A VALUE CHAIN

One of the fascinating issues with maritime informatics is that we see a complex system broken into simple parts. The chain stretched out, with all its component elements laid bare.

So, that is the notionally easy bit. Everyone begins to generate data, the digitisation stage. Then agrees to share it, the digitalisation phase. Then what. How can we make sure we are allowing the data to shape destiny, rather than being just so much information which paralyses us instead of propelling us forward?

The simplistic answer would be to rely on coding and to have faith that the algorithms we produce based on data will be the right answers for all. As we have learned elsewhere, that may not always be so straightforward, or even correct.

The goal of maritime informatics is to bring everything together, but in such a way as we stitch the fibres of information together to make something useful. Anyone can just have data, there is no win in collecting for collecting sake. This is about the purpose and ultimately the strategic harnessing of technology.

THE DATA DILEMMA

The big danger is that we all fall down a massive rabbit hole together. We generate data, we feed that into machine learning and then we produce data through that. All the while we get further from the known first state, and we’re never quite sure whether we have set AI on the right path. That is fundamentally the fear at the heart of the leap of faith into the new shipping capability and context.

The question of whether the whole industry can indeed work together for better, and quite who that “better” is for. Will new, data-driven, maritime informatics informed vessels look to save the planet, to ease trade flows, to benefit ports, or to make more money for owners and shipbrokers? Who will the machines favour? While remembering that alas optimised, reliable and predictable supply chains are not in everyone’s interest as ships trade on volatility.

That is the big question, but in the meantime, that debate can be informed and guided by generating and harnessing the best data we can muster. There is still so much data to be captured and understood.

Even with ships bristling with sensors we are only scratching the surface. So we need to make sure we understand what data is, and what we need to be monitoring, collecting, collating, sharing and relying on.

RATE OF CHANGE

So, let’s pull the telegraph back a notch and think about where we are, and where we need to get to. We know that the data genie is out of the bottle, and we want to be able to use the real-life “facts” to make our performances and results better.

That is the passage we are sailing on, as we seek to raise the capital productivity of shipping through understanding, improving and rethinking what we do and how we do it.

Despite shipping talking about this for a decade or more, this is still a massive, significant and symbolic cultural shift. One that does not come easy. However, the course has been set and the die is cast.

With the big shipping players making their move, and with more and more innovative solutions emerging, the rate of change will accelerate and become almost exponential. More data, meaning more data, meaning more decisions, more actions and more data…the upward spiral of maritime informatics will change what we do and how forever. Don’t miss the boat.