Leaders Address Tomorrow's Solutions at Asia Pacific Maritime 2020

The digital evolution is shaping the maritime future in multiple aspects – both onshore and offshore – and shipping organizations are facing pressure to operate more efficiently and profitably while catering to the increasingly sophisticated customer demands. As with any change, digitalization was initially met with skepticism. But this has given way to a building digital momentum, in view of the many strategic business benefits to be reaped – from operational efficiency improvements and cost reductions, to environmental performance enhancements.

Asia Pacific Maritime (APM) will return for its 16th edition from 18 to 20 March 2020, with a conference that will gather over 50 industry top minds for a three-day, in-depth discussion on what the maritime industry could look like in 10 years. Key solutions making waves across the industry, including maritime 5G, digitalization standards and remote pilotage, will be examined.

Yeow Hui Leng, Group Project Director, Asia Pacific Maritime (APM) said, “Shipping carries around 90 percent of world trade, making it the blood life of the global economy. Amid challenges posed by shifts in economic activity and tightening regulations, the maritime industry continues to seek means to answer the imperative call to digitalization. In the face of a changing landscape, APM 2020 will present an opportunity for delegates to glean important insights from industry leaders and explore partnerships to navigate for success.”

Held in conjunction with the conference is the APM exhibition, one of Asia’s largest marketplace showcasing a complete overview of the vessel sectors. The biennial trade exhibition is expected to host over 1,500 international exhibitors and 15,000 visitors, across six halls spread over two levels.

Digitalization standardization for greater collaboration

While automation and other technological innovations can benefit the industry by easing strenuous tasks and streamlining workflow, lack of standardization remains one hurdle to industry-wide digitalization. Standardization is key to improving data flow and enhancing interoperability and synergy.

On this topic, Kenneth Lim, Chief Technology Officer, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said, “Digitalization presents many opportunities and advantages for industry players, but it can only reach its full potential when data flows are seamless. As such, MPA has embarked on initiatives such as the ‘digitalOCEANS’ concept to foster Open or Common Exchange And Network Standardisation and allow digital platforms of port authorities, supply chain companies, terminal operators, marine services companies, and ships to interoperate.”

Morten Lind-Olsen, Chief Executive Officer, Dualog added, “There is a growing focus on utilization of consolidated data for both business and compliance purposes. Data needs to be standardized when generated for more efficient collection, processing and analysis, to deliver the value of timely decision-
making. This focus is increasing day by day and certainly requires more digitally integrated ships. The shipping industry has the advantage and tradition of trading within global established regulations and legislation.”

Improving efficiency in a digitalized maritime industry is one of the main movements that APM 2020 conference will deliberate at the panel session titled “Enabling Digitalisation through Standardisation & Collaboration” happening during the Leaders’ Forum (March 18, 2020).

In addition to Kenneth Lim and Morten Lind-Olsen, panellists for the session include Andre Simha, Global Chief Digital & Information Officer, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company; Rakesh Rawat, Global Director of ICT Services, OSM and Punit Oza, Vice President, Head of Systems, Processes & Competence – Dry Bulk, Torvald Klaveness.

Maritime 5G enabling infinite communication possibilities

As the next big leap in mobile and wireless communications, 5G is expected to open up infinite possibilities in maritime communication – for example, the introduction of smart drones for real-time monitoring, ship-shore communication for vessel traffic management and just-in-time operations, autonomous vessels with low latency connectivity for remote operation, the use of Internet-of-Things sensors during search-and-rescue for real-time communications and accurate positioning.

Sharing his thoughts, Kun Yang, Founder, Super Radio AS said, “Autonomous shipping and ocean digitalization drive the needs of maritime communication. Though currently in its experimental and commercialization stages, maritime 5G will play an important role for the remote control of autonomous ships in the future.” Kun Yang is the board chairman and project administrator of “LTE, WIFI and 5G Massive MIMO Communications in Maritime Propagation Environments” (MAMIME), the world’s first maritime 5G communication project that is funded by the Norwegian Research Council. This project aims to develop optimized LTE and WIFI systems, and research dedicated to 5G solutions for the maritime applications. In addition, Super Radio AS is the Pre-5G test solution provider for the small-version Yara Birkeland autonomous ship, which is regarded as the world’s first fully electric and autonomous container ship.

Digitalisation Day (19 March 2020) will feature a session on “Understanding 5G Connectivity and What is Means for Maritime Communications”, where industry experts will examine and discuss the latest developments and potential benefits of 5G for the maritime industry.

Joining Kun Yang on the panel is Jeevarathinam Ravikumar, Vice President Technology & Innovation Global Technology Centre, Lloyd’s Register. (Please refer to Annex A for the list of speakers on Digitalisation Day).

Remote Pilotage: Going beyond the experimental phase

Unmanned vessels have also been top of mind for shippers. These game-changers could mean that ships can spend much more time at sea than human-controlled ones. Such innovation enables increased productivity, reduces reliance on human resources and is less prone to human error.

Sanna Sonninen, Pilotage Director of Finnpilot Pilotage, said, “Technology and solutions for commercially viable concepts of autonomous ships and remote control of ship operations have been developed and tested by various organizations. Though these are excellent showcases, public sentiment on the autonomous shipping development, the various levels of autonomy or remote operation is often mixed. When trying to find feasible solutions for remote pilotage it is important to understand the difference between an autonomous ship, remote operated ship and remote piloted ship. To understand how the complex task of piloting a ship could be successfully accomplished without the pilot being physically onboard and operating as a part of bridge team, one must analyze the different functions of pilotage. Such issues must be solved and analyzed before these remote pilotage experiments become a reality.”

Sanna Sonninen will be delivering a presentation on “Developing a Comprehensive Remote and Autonomous Pilotage System” on Innovation Day (March 20, 2020).

APM 2020: Future of Vessels. Solutions for Tomorrow

Amid a flurry of discussion on various technological innovations, the APM 2020 exhibition and conference will facilitate connections with decision-makers and industry observers to sharpen understanding about global maritime trends and movements.

Discussions will also deepen at newly introduced roundtable sessions taking place at the APM conference, where industry leaders will lead open dialogues about key issues affecting the maritime sector, such as the implementation of digital solutions and technical innovations. Another new addition to APM will be speed networking sessions, which are quick 15-minute meet-ups that will foster new relationships between experts and maritime personnel through a structured approach.

The Innovation Pavilion will make its maiden appearance at the exhibition, showcasing fully autonomous vessels, electronic professional certificates and ships with minimal carbon footprints – solutions that will support delegates in maintaining a competitive edge.

The APM 2020 exhibition and conference will take place from March 18 to 20, 2020, connecting delegates with decision makers and sharpening industry understanding in Asia. Registration to visit APM Exhibition is free and is now open.