MARITIME is steaming towards a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as myriad forces including ongoing climate change, revisions in global regulations, and the phasing in of market-based mechanisms such as the European Union’s Emissions Trading System conspire to make doing business in maritime both more complex and more expensive. According to one commentator, market-based mechanisms will likely cause the price of bunkers to rise as high as $1,500 per tonne.

Digital technologies will be part of the solution. But for many, adopting digital technologies is easier said than done. Maritime generates a tremendous quantity of data but much of it is incomplete or low quality. It is stored in too many systems, and behind too many logins and screens to make informed, fast decisions, leading to lost revenue and increased costs.

Before these forces impact your business, maritime firms should get a grip on their data.

Data is the new crude oil

Lubricating these technologies is a different kind of oil: data. Data from the charter party, from daily reports, from equipment on board, from Automatic Identification System signals, from historical voyages, market data, competitive data, and weather data — to name just a few.

At its heart, data consists simply of zeros and ones. If it were delivered in that form it would be useless. Instead, it must be processed, analysed, and combined with other data sets until it becomes actionable within a workflow.

This is what technology does to data: it turns it into actionable intelligence, often through the application of artificial intelligence. In that way, technology refines data in much the same way as the refining process turns crude oil into its lighter and more valuable fractions. As ones and zeros data is useless. Once refined, it can help you make better, faster decisions.

Software solutions are at hand

According to a McKinsey & Co report, in order to achieve zero carbon shipping by 2050, approximately 50% of decarbonisation will come from vessel efficiency, driven by a “whole slew of technologies… that will enable individual shipowners to run their fleets more efficiently”.

Achieving those emissions reductions while operating a profitable business seems like a goal for only companies with massive budgets to spend on digital solutions. Yet these solutions are operational and accessible today.

The business model known as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) puts powerful technologies in the hands of users with no upfront costs or need to install hardware. The solutions are secure, scalable and can often be used prior to payment.

OrbitMI offers software and data products powered by machine learning and AI that enrich data quality, enable connected workflows, and accelerate decision making — both on ship and on shore — leading to more profits, increased productivity, improved efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions.  The platform supports workflows across maritime including chartering, operations, claims, technical management, reporting and compliance, among others.

Leading shipping companies such as Western Bulk and Stena Bulk are already OrbitMI customers, as are shorter haul operators such as Furetank and Seatrans.

To find out more about OrbitMI’s Software-as-a-Service solutions, contact us here.