The shipping industry is facing heavy turbulence during this pandemic, owing to several disruptions. Interferences in world trade, closure of ports, reduction of the workforce to name a few. However, on a positive note, it is also acting as a catalyst for the adoption of technological innovations by the industry. Let me walk through a few of them:
Digitalization in the shipping industry
An article from ROC describes how this pandemic is accelerating digitalization in the shipping industry. Digitalization in the industry is obviously not a recent phenomenon. It has been taking place for several years but there is no coherent transformation across all places. As the article suggests, having the need for a physical bill of ladings, customs documents are still prevalent. We had the technology to digitalize them decades ago. However, it is mostly social factors and inertia of legacy systems and processes contributing to resistance to technological changes.
But when the industry is a situation of the reduced workforce, employees having to work from home, digitalization is a necessity. As the saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention”. The invention is already existing and all that is required is adopting.
Container Tracking Technology
Improved container tracking has been an offering by several shipping companies. However, what seemingly seems like a relatively simple solution for a wide range of benefits, not all companies have adopted this technology.
With improved container tracking technology, it is much simpler to collect and analyze data of status delays, finding optimization opportunities, route planning, e.t.c. This is much needed in this pandemic where delays are far more prevalent than normal.
In our experience integrating numerous cargo and shipping companies at Trackmycouriers, a shipment tracking tool, we realized how relatively basic container tracking technology can be. Improved real-time container visibility can provide a lot of actionable insights.
Automated Port Operations
In contrast to the above two, automation of port operations is rather expensive and a much bigger endeavor. A major proportion of operations in most ports are manual. Cranes, RTGs, transportation trucks, loading/unloading e.t.c all usually require manual operations.
Disruptions in such operations is a direct consequence of workforce unavailability. So it’s intuitive to think about how the pandemic might spark a push towards automation of port operations.
Conclusion
Looking at the bright side, COVID-19 is likely to advance the already existing trend of digitalizing, automating, and bringing other technological developments to the shipping industry. Hopefully, this would herald more efficiency, transparency, information, and safety in the industry.
