Maritime Insights - Food For Thoughts / February 2021

I am super proud to collect the first key learnings of our Maritime Insights sessions. We decided to write a monthly review of our Clubhouse sessions and present key learnings to all those maritime enthusiasts who are not on Clubhouse or were not able to attend. This is for you.

"Trust will be an important factor towards autonomous vessels"

Autonomous Vessels & Future of Crew

During our discussion we came to the conclusion that ?autonomy“ means different things to different people and it will not happen overnight, it will come in small steps. The quality of the data is important, because the input defines the output. When we speak about autonomous vessels, redundancy is essential based on today’s propulsion systems, but that could change with alternate propulsion options.

The numbers of maritime students are shrinking, this will leading to future mariner shortage. The disruption could possibly come from outside the industry. Big companies prefer working with established companies rather than startups and they are especially skeptical of those from outside the industry. However the potential disruptive technology could come from outside the industry. Generally speaking, it is a very complex industry for startups & entrepreneurs to navigate. As the industry digitally transforms it is getting challenging to recruit skilled technology talents. Especially because the maritime industry attractiveness is not that big.

When we speak about autonomous vessels, we must also think about possible incidents. Incidents are perhaps manageable insurance-wise but the impact in terms of reputation is huge, along with impact to the environment which is amplified.

"Regulations: Focus from "Safety" to "Sustainability"

IMO future regulatory strategy & journey to NetZero

The industry journey to NetZero certainly needs support & subsidies from governments - at least in the initial stages. As vessels are built for 25-30 yrs, lack of regulatory clarity & rapidly evolving regulations makes new-building decisions difficult to make for a lot of shipping companies. Historically regulation has been reactionary & often based on incidents. This has changed with regulation being proactive & in some cases well in advance, like we see it now with discussions around MEPC75.

The regulation strategy of the last decade was driven by ?safety“, the regulation strategy of the next decade will be driven by environmental topics and decarbonization. Cargo owners are not represented directly at the IMO although regulations may impact them albeit indirectly.

The trajectory to NetZero is complex & will most likely be achieved by a combination of solutions & approaches and a change of business models. The impact of seafarers & additional administrative burden must to be considered as well. Regional bodies like the European Union test new regulations locally before it is adopted internationally by the IMO.

"Young talents can benefit from seniors and vice versa"

Maritime Entrepreneurs

When we speak about young talents in our industry and it’s important to empower them and give them clear opportunities. It's needed to help them find their skills that can be applied in shipping. To provide young talents a perfect environment, we have to be role models, show action, lead from the front, pass on experience & mentor careers.

The Shipping industry is human centric & doesn’t have as much technology as other industries yet. But young people, who enter the shipping industry are tech savvy & use social platforms daily. This leads to a win-win situation where seniors can win from young people and vice versa. The shipping industry is changing & naturally it leans towards younger people due to more technology in the future. Young professionals should accept help from wherever they get it and don’t be afraid to fail.

Another aspect in this discussion is the fact, that we see a generational change in shipping especially at the leadership level. Huge gaps in women in management & boards positions needs to be filled as well.

Startups & entrepreneurs face a lack of access to partners or pilots to run trials even with ready products. Some shipping companies are developing their own technologies & are sometimes competitors to young startups.

Another point of the general discussion have been that some startups are building solutions that are nice to have, but not really solving a problem. They need good advisors & subject matter experts to guide them.

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Thank You note

A special "Thank You" to all guest speakers and to all hosts of Maritime Insights for great sessions.

Disclaimer

Above summary of our Clubhouse sessions are based on handwritten notes only. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the individual speakers. The author of this LinkedIn article only collected the information.