How digital transformation translates into significant savings.

I started my career in the maritime industry in the mid-1990's as Navigation Cadet?(or?Deck Cadet)?onboard the MV Sun Viking, a cruise vessel in Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Sun Viking was one of the three original cruise ships ordered by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines as part of their early fleet.?

Moving up the rank to Chief Officer you start out as Deck cadet?- You'll go all over the ship as you learn to navigate, load and unload cargo, handle legal and commercial affairs and oversee crew operations.

I have always been curious and challenging the as-is to change the conventional narrative. But I have also always understood the challenges coming from embracing digital innovations such as AI, blockchain, machine learning, analytics, digital twins, and autonomous vessels, to name but a few. Regulatory compliance may well be a driver of innovation in shipping. But I know that owners, managers, and charterers will keep focusing on making their business profitable and reducing Operational Expenses (OPEX).

Digitalisation will reduce the cost of shipping, while improving safety. It is set to enable reduced downtime, predictive maintenance, performance forecasting, real-time risk management, and energy efficiency. Operators will generate cost savings through advanced data analytics, process digitalisation, robotic process automation, and connecting and sensing technology.

A vast selections of technological solutions are moving their software deeper into maritime operations, chartering, optimizing routes, vessel performance monitoring, empowering decision-makers by providing reliable data, driving transparency, and promoting standards that will facilitate all interactions across the vessel lifecycle and seaborne trade. This disruptive innovation is not far into the future anymore, it is happening right now. Open data platforms, AIS tracking, real-time data monitoring, data integration and APIs, and blockchain architectures are some of the digital tools successfully implemented. This is currently redefining the way we work in the shipping and the maritime cluster.

And yet, it wasn’t until recently that these solutions proved to be capable of significantly impacting the OPEX of a shipping company. But now the evidence is mounting. Overall, with an estimated 15% OPEX reduction due to digital disruption, we expect rapid growth in the number of connected ships over the next 5 years.

Reducing a vessel’s operational expenses means improving its energy efficiency, which is a complex process with lots of different factors affecting it. Weather conditions, the technical state of the vessel, just-in-time arrival, route geometry, and many other elements make true efficiency difficult to achieve and to report on. Truly disruptive digital innovation can keep the promise of delivering optimised routing, real-time vessel-wide performance monitoring, post-voyage analytics, and clear and transparent communication between all stakeholders.

Data don’t lie, data tell us a simple story and example: the potential savings from a balanced weather-optimised routing system can amount to 10% less fuel consumed.

So, data accuracy is crucial to improving performance, increasing profit, and ensuring certifiable compliance. But it's not enough. A stable, coherent framework of regulation and support is still essential to boost confidence in the maritime sector and drive investments. Commercial shipping will undergo a rapid transformation as competition intensifies and technologies mature in neighbouring sectors such as the process manufacturing industry.

Where do your maritime digitalization experience begin ... ... ...

At Navidium, we know that sharing data from interconnected digital systems will become increasingly necessary in the future and that non-compliance will not be a viable option anymore. Accurate data will allow all stakeholders to make decisions based on reliable information and sensible criteria. That’s how the most innovative companies are already now increasing their profit margins. That’s why a good digital investment repays itself in just a few weeks and months.?

Navidium software solutions make data insights accessible and actionable to all, fusing together and contextualizing data points from a wide range of sources, and helping owners, charterers, and managers achieve their goals.