AI in the Shipping Industry |
Posted: August 5, 2022 |
The shipping industry is a significant part of the global economy, transporting goods and materials from one part of the world to another. With every sector now adopting the latest trend and technologies, the shipping industry is also slowly and steadily moving toward becoming an AI-driven industry. You might wonder how AI (artificial intelligence) will change the shipping industry? With AI in the shipping industry, the shipping industry can optimize its complex operations and make them more efficient and time friendly. This article will explore the benefits of incorporating AI into the shipping industry. Benefits of incorporating AI in the shipping industry Scheduling forecast With the help of AI, shipping companies will easily predict the scheduling of their vessels. Availability of data like destination, trip duration and arrival will help the carrier schedule and reschedule appearances and avoid delays and downtimes. With the help of vessel predictive analytics, carriers can effectively handle the unanticipated scenarios caused by emergencies and route changes. Voyage optimization Planning a voyage is crucial to avoid extreme weather conditions and unforeseen events. With AI predictive analysis and voyage-impacting data collection, the shipping industry will have high-accuracy data and help optimize voyages. It will further ensure that vessels always sail the ideal route, avoid port delays and harsh weather, and identify the best return route and schedule so that ships don't sail empty. CO2 Emission reductions The shipping industry is responsible for carrying around 90% of international trade, so it becomes clear that ships play a significant part in releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. Including AI solutions in the maritime sector will help facilitate the ship's carbon print reduction, which includes direction forecasting and fuel consumption factors. Automated equipment AI and automation hold an important position in the maritime industry. Machine learning will help evaluate historical records by considering weather trends or busy/slow transport seasons. Automating strategies will help discover issues before they even take place. This will provide operators with adequate time to prevent potential risks. Cost reductions Incorporating AI will bring advanced analytics and automated equipment, reduce the decision-making time, and improve efficiency, voyage planning and route forecasting. All these factors together will help to reduce the overall cost invested in the smooth functioning of the shipping industry. Maintenance prediction The AI will help ship operators perceive machinery issues before they escalate, inflicting downtimes and affecting the supply chain. Due to the unstable nature of the shipping industry, predictive maintenance has become crucial. The ships must spend a long time in the oceans, and during their shipment journeys, access to maintenance support may be limited. With the help of AI, the operators can predict the potential maintenance issue before route launch and thus save the shipping company time and expense. Risk management The ocean is a very complex operating environment. A minor mistake at any given time can lead to accidents and result in loss of life or other losses. The advanced AI technologies will not only help in the planning and management of tasks but also help to analyze the accidents or incidents that occurred in the past. It will help the operator to comprehend trends and viable factors and predict operational risks for the forthcoming operation, allowing the shipping crew to make better decisions and operate safely and effectively. Barriers to Artificial Intelligence Inclusion Although implementing AI in the shipping industry will come with plenty of benefits, incorporating these technologies into maritime is difficult. Below are some factors that act as a barrier to implementing artificial intelligence. Lack of transparency The shipping industry believes in protecting their data rather than sharing it in the market, mainly due to competitive reasons. There is an urgent need for shared data to make high-quality decisions. Shortage of skilled crew It is crucial that the people involved in this industry, such as shipowners, crew members, etc., are aware of the latest technologies and trends to implement digital technologies into the maritime sector effectively. Lack of awareness on appropriately using digitalization can also be a barrier to AI development in the marine industry. Lack of complete information As mentioned above, the shipping industry is not very comfortable being transparent about their data. For automation and AI to function appropriately, analytics insights gathered from accurate data are very important. The global maritime transport demand will continue to grow. Incorporating the right technologies in the shipping industry will provide plenty of benefits. Be it voyage optimization, cost reductions, or risk management; everything can be handled smoothly with the inclusion of AI in the shipping industry. The shipping industry is now moving towards an AI-driven approach. It embraces many new technologies such as AI, blockchains, IoT, etc. Some of the examples are mentioned below: In 2018, Hong Kong shipping line OOCL concluded a 15-week development process with Microsoft's AI research centre, MSRA, that generated operating cost savings of $10 million annually. The company's commitment to spend a further 18 months employing Microsoft's AI capability to optimize their network operations and train 200 new AI specialists to work with their existing 1000+ software engineers suggests that $10M is just the tip of the iceberg. Last year, Sea Machines, a startup developing autonomous and remote command systems for workboats, announced a deal with Maersk to fit perception and situational awareness technology on one of the company's newly built Winter Palace ice-class container ships. AI startup MAANA has helped a leading transportation and logistics company reduce time spent on port omission decisions by 99.7%, cutting a 6-hour port rerouting analysis down to 60 seconds. BOXXPORT, an online container trading platform, has been providing its container trading services worldwide. It has challenged the traditional way of doing business by creating a digital marketplace for container trading. 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