Don’t Be a Digital Revenant in the Tech Wild West

Shipping is changing, but there is a danger of it becoming a new digital wild west. So here we gallop through the ways that companies either emerge from their digital transformation looking pristine in snakeskin cowboy boots or ravaged like Leonardo in The Revenant…

WILD OR MILD

The digital journey of any shipping company begins in much the same way. Regardless of where they are, what they do and indeed when they began. The first step in this long journey is to question what they are doing, how, why, etc, etc.

For some, the answers have been obvious. They have tended to be the companies already in pole position, and they have seen that the more data they have and the more ways of understanding and ultimately sharing it would further elevate them.

Others have gone into the process a little blind, with some vague hopes of pegging the competition back. These are the apologetic kinds of approaches, “sorry but could we just trouble you for some data”. The meek shall not inherit this world, and there is no place for mild.

The maritime informatics digital revolution is a place for confidence, determination, daring and desire. It is about faith in the quest for answers, and of knowing that when data comes that it will be harnessed, interrogated, refined and turned into a force multiplier. The wild ones are those that have sniffed the air and known that things were changing. They felt the rising tide of consumer demand, the pressure on charterers, and the cascading demands that would lead to.

MY DIGITAL VOYAGE

For my part, my digital maritime informatics voyage began when older, perhaps wiser heads lost their nerve and bottled it. I was made Master at 27. Not because I was a young prodigy, but because I was Chief Officer and loads of our fleet Masters did not want to be on board when the Millennium turned.

They feared the Millennium Bug, they distrusted their tech, they had no faith or confidence in IT. Their answer was to get home as fast as possible…and let the next generation face whatever might be coming over the horizon.

For me, that was a life-changer. It made me a Captain which, aside from my marriage, my kids (and the 2003 England Rugby World Cup win), is my happiest moment.

I was thrust into the spotlight, raised and elevated because others feared to tread. My big break came because of the uncertainty of others. People I knew, respected, liked, turned their backs because of risks, and the young Bucks broke through.

CAREFUL WHAT YOU DREAM OF

It is one thing celebrating your first command, it is another entirely to make it all run smoothly. As the vessel was readied to depart for sea in thick fog out of Bremerhaven, I remembered the old saying of being very careful what you wish for, lest it comes true.

There I was, four stripes on my shoulder and the heart going ten to the dozen. With nothing more to be done or said, it was time to set sail. What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot as it turned out. My first voyage as Captain was “eventful”, as you might say.

There was a collision, a grounding, a shooting and lots more excitement besides. This should really be a podcast in its own right. Maybe next time. Anyway, eventually the ship delivered its cargo, and despite some “teething” problems, I was a Captain. Which was something I had always longed to be and I wasn’t going to give that away cheaply.

That was at the start of not just a new Millennium, but of a new dawn for shipping. One day our ship was remote, unconnected, occasionally positions from transiting satellites, and the telex machine clicking. The next, we were connected properly to the office ashore. Emails, calls, instructions, demands, the whole world of the ship changed almost overnight.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

In seemingly the flicking of a switch, we had gone from being a vessel that the old Captain used to put a towel over the sat nav, so we wouldn’t become dependent on it. To suddenly being almost overwhelmed with information. Connectivity changed everything. Not just technically or operationally, but psychologically too.

Where the ship had been separate, a distant outpost, a fiefdom of the Master, and a world with distinct rules, culture and way of life. Now suddenly it was merely an extension of the office. We were office staff, but with the added challenge of watches to keep and dangers to deal with.

If I had rubbed my crystal ball then, I would probably have foreseen the change coming faster than it has, but the changes would have been less incremental. To think that 21 years ago we were seeing the start of connected shipping, and the birth of maritime informatics, it is perhaps a tad surprising that so many of the conversations are still being held today.

In 21 years we have made some strides, but nothing like the leaps that would have been predicted. There are still very many ships today that a seafarer from 21 years ago would recognise. They could walk onto the bridge or into the engine control room of many vessels and still feel at home. Which in some ways is a testament to mariners, and their resilience, but alas in other ways that is because the industry has failed to grasp the opportunities which have been tantalisingly close for decades.

OUT OF REACH

That the full benefits of technological change could still be waiting to be grasped is quite amazing. I would never have thought as the emails whizzed to my ship, as the office flexed its managerial muscles, and as Britney Spears sang about doing it again, that we would still be waiting for the waves of changes to crash onto vessels.

What we have seen in these years has been baby steps instead of giant leaps. Perhaps that is inevitable, and there have been other changes to deal with. Perhaps the changes of focus from security took away some of the horsepower of change management? Many shipping companies had to work hard to translate the International Ship and Port Facility (ISPS) Code into a working reality.

It seems that post 9/11 was the time when we were on the cusp of technological change, but instead focused on security, terrorism and the remote tracking of vessels for governments, rather than commerce. That was a time of promise which was lost, and as the global financial crisis followed close on its heels, then again it was a case of 1 step forward, 2 astern.

Today there is no choice, no stalling on change and progress. There are always pressures on shipping, but as owners seek to make hay while the cargo crunch sunshine bathes them in a warm glow of soaring freight rates, there needs to be the willingness, environment and desire to finally grasp the techno nettle. We cannot waste more years, more decades.

TIME FOR CHANGE

The time for change is here because the drivers of transformation have themselves evolved. It used to be thought that shipowners would make changes to benefit their businesses, that they would evolve, invest, reinvigorate and leap forward for their own good. Alas, aside from some companies who began to see themselves as logistics, not shipping, companies, the revolution has been close but hasn’t yet delivered.

Mired in debate over things like autonomous ships, we have lost our way. A technological fog has descended to confuse and confound shipping companies. Unsure of which way to alter course, they have slowed down and just made noise instead. The foghorns of positive chatter have not actually advanced the cause of maritime connectivity. The restricted visibility of offices ashore when it comes to technology, data and what to do with it all, have meant that the has been slow progress.

Now there can be no excuses. There are only positives to be gained, and with the fear of Amazon or Elon Musk, suddenly deciding to focus on the sea now they have conquered the stratosphere, then shipping has to adapt or die, it has to do what it should have done twenty years ago. It needs to shed its conservative image, and connect.

Shipping must go full ahead with confidence. Grabbing the ways and means of using data, digitalisation and sensors to make ships smarter, to make decisions better, and to be seen as a solution, not as a constant problem. Back to the wild west analogy, horses were great until tracks were laid, and suddenly the wagon trains were replaced by actual trains. Suddenly there was no holding progress back, and that is where we are today.