As all sectors of the economy rapidly adapt to the digital future to gain a comparative advantage over their competitors, so the Shipping industry has slowly but steadily begun to adopt digital solutions and cutting-edge technology. This is evident in the construction of new ships, cyber security and the use of block chain technology to track and secure cargo.
The greatest progress and assimilation of digital technology is made in the following areas in hierarchical order:
1. Business operations
Implementation and adoption of e-platforms for the purpose of
a) electronic cargo booking
b) the balance of supply and demand,
c) negotiation between charterers and ship-owning companies
2. Supplies
The sector that presents the slowest pace of adoption and application of digital technology.
3. Maintenance
A great deal of effort is being made to increase the rate of digitization in this area at an ever-increasing rate so that 95% of the maintenance is done through automated applications.
By Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis-https://trusteconomics.eu
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Why the Shipping industry is delaying its digital future
Any delay is due to the fact that a ship alone is a complex business with many requirements such as
- maintenance requirements of a hotel
- supply requirements of a factory
These sizes fluctuate depending on the size of the ship. Assuming that a medium-sized shipping company has thirty (30) ships of different sizes, which have different age, technology and trained staff then we can understand the degree of difficulty but this is not an excuse for any delays in the adoption of digital technology.
The way of transition
The transition from proportional and physical presence of staff to achieve scheduled maintenance to more sophisticated ones that require greater digitization (preventive maintenance) must be gradual.
1. It is necessary to redesign the operational maintenance model with the main axis the increased synergy and cooperation, communication and exchange of information between parts of the company and the ship (technician, supplies, IT, etc.).
The aim is to co-formulate the objectives of preventive maintenance, the definition of demand, the mass ordering procedures that will be followed, the data that will be needed and the indicators that will be monitored.
2. All this analysis of the data as well as their history, will present what has been done in the past from the previous years of maintenance (eg spare parts suppliers, sudden and unexpected repairs, maintenance, opening hours, etc.).
3. In this way all the data and the data are categorized with the result that the database for each ship can on its own give any damage with the appropriate available spare part to be immediately indicated if it is available and where it can be found.
This organization will enable better, more accurate and targeted supply of spare parts enabling future predictable breakdowns.
4. The data analysis should include the total costs of each parameter e.g. stock, transport, shortage in order to select the best possible result / option.
Technologies that should be applied are telemetry – in order to integrate the values of temperature, pressure, vibration sensors that will be used for the forecast models that will show the maintenance plans.
The digital preventive maintenance model should include:
- The organization of history and maintenance data of each ship.
- Categorization and analysis of this data.
- Improving this through telemetry technology in order to make fast, detailed and low cost decisions.
