The perfect storm

Speaking at the Transas Global Conference in Malta, it was explained that as technology impacts the way of doing business and the middle man is removed by the digitalisation creating commodity driven efficiency – the perfect storm is developing.

He said: “Many will conclude it is all the fault of President Trump but in fact it is actually nothing to do with him. If anything he is going to enable the industry to think smarter because he is also beginning change. The perfect storm is the one confronting the maritime industry.”

“Have we ever paused to consider how these changes will play out within the context of the maritime and shipping industries to reflect on the true implications? I anticipate several defining moments on the horizon and the possibility of a totally new model of shipping,” Mr Coles added.

The speech spoke about how the likes of Alibaba, Amazon and Walmart are now starting to shake up the shipping world. The major e-commerce players are striving to take greater control over logistics and directly over transportation which is causing disruption in the shipping space.

As Amazon moves into the shipping business it is singing leases of aircraft and trying to compete with FedEx and UPS. While Walmart is looking to take complete control of its own ships and Alibaba has signed up with Maersk, CMA CGM and Zim Lines.

Mr Coles’ speech continued: “The discussions about unmanned ships, smart operations and improved efficiency are really only code for the end of the current maritime model. The maritime industry is part of the first mile segment of the shipping business.”

He went on to say: “The ships that are built will have to be more automated, more efficient and built for purpose… Anything is possible once you introduce efficiency of a scaled smart operations model in the maritime industry.”

Transas has created THESIS – the Transas Harmonized Eco system of Integrated Solutions. This provides a unified platform for the maritime segment of transportation. THESIS is a platform with shared data services, decision support tools and applications to enable the digital maritime industry to operate.

“Our business will be about more than supplying an ECDIS. We have shifted to supplying the decision support infrastructure tools to enable the smart operations of the maritime section of the shipping industry,” said Mr Coles.

The speech concluded: “As we have already discussed, the largely untouched maritime segment of the supply chain is now changing, and that change is going to accelerate as more innovative players come in and challenge the status quo.

Ship-owners, vendors, equipment suppliers, service providers, agents, repair companies will all face major challenges in the digital environment. The role of the middle man becomes redundant, eliminating many of the inefficiencies that have traditionally cushioned the industry, as a new more streamlined model takes shape.”