The demand for maritime energy efficiency moving toward clean technology
Collaborative initiatives are emerging across various sectors of the maritime industry. Extreme events in these recent years such as Covid-19 pandemic, global inflation or political tension has push the maritime industry or shipowners in demand of transformation and innovation to deal with the complexities of the current situation. Mr. Pelle Sommansson - chief product and AI officer at ZeroNorth – a maritime technology believes that maritime industry can withstand and overcome the supply chain challenges or effectively respond to geopolitical tensions and ongoing Covid-19 restrictions if organizations commit to working together, they are capable of achieving success despite the obstacles they may face.
Collaboration to achieve common goals has been growing trending as global economy has been unstable for many years. One example is shipping alliances between ship owners and carriers such as the Ocean Alliance – the cooperative group of carriers, or the famous 2M alliance between 2 shipping giants Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC). The common characteristic along these alliances is that they all sharing resource and reducing costs by pooling their vessels, networks, and services.
Another collaboration is port collaboration in order to improve efficiency and reduce congestion. Some busy ports like Rotterdam Port and Antwerp Port in Netherland have formed “Nextlogic” partnership to optimize shipping traffic between the two ports.
One benefit of the collaboration is to drive the maritime industry to the green transition. The collaboration is to help develop industry-wide standards for sustainability. When the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regulations that came into force in January 2023 in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many shipowners and shipping lines have debated and decided to collaborate with the support of data driven technology.
The threat of cyberattack toward the maritime industry
The maritime industry is a vital part of the global economy, with ships transporting goods and people across oceans and seas. In today's digital age, the maritime industry faces new challenges related to cybersecurity. As technology advances, the threat of cyber-attacks on ships and port infrastructure increases, making cybersecurity a critical issue for the industry.
International shipping, especially the marine sector is facing new cybersecurity-related issues in the modern digital era. The possibility of cyberattacks on ships and port infrastructure grows as technology develops, making cybersecurity a crucial problem for the maritime sector. Mr. Fabien Rech- expert from Trellix- a cybersecurity company believed that the maritime industry is in high risk of cyber-attacks globally. Research from Trellix indicates that the transportation and shipping sector has been the most damaged by APT-group-led campaigns- a sophisticated cyberattack group – up to 27% of the attack. Ransomware attacks to maritime industry takes up one third of the attacks, only second to telecom sectors. These statistics is proved that cybersecurity has been underestimated for a long time and demand effective solution to prevent cyber-attacks.
To address the cybersecurity challenges facing the maritime industry, there is a need for collaboration between industry stakeholders, governments, and cybersecurity experts. It is crucial to highlights the need of enhancing security measures to protect maritime owner from the rising number of sophisticated cyber-attacks. Governments can establish legislative frameworks and administrative guidelines to guarantee that the marine sector complies with basic cybersecurity requirements. While industry stakeholders may exchange best practices and work together on cybersecurity efforts, cybersecurity specialists can offer technical guidance and help in creating and executing cybersecurity measures.
The need for greener and more eco-friendly maritime logistics
The global maritime industry is undergoing a major transformation as the world grapples with the challenges of climate change and rising energy costs. Green transition solutions demand the restrict of using fossil fuel and opt to environmental- friendly vessel. Mr. Mikael Mahlberg, head of PR & Communications, Candela mentioned that various approach has been discussed such as the new concept of transport system: from few, costly, massive vessels toward more flexible one that uses a greater number of quicker, smaller electric vessels. One of his solutions is zero-emission foiling vessels to minimize operating costs while lowering journey durations and boosting departures.
The discussion put high expectation to electric vessel and shifted the question from "how many people can this ship carry" to "how many passengers can you transport per hour and at what cost”.
Additionally, some major cities in Europe with waterborne transport system like Rotterdam or Antwerp will be concentrated to be competitive mode of transport in cities. The growing interest in sustainable waterways of transport in urban areas significantly potential. However, the speed limitations, frequently put in place to minimize wakes and the damage they might do to the coastline and other vessels are one of the obstacles prevent the development of waterways high-speed mass transit. Therefore, to develop the trend of green transition in maritime industry, the rules should be re-evaluated to support the increase of maritime transport.
