Scott Holland, chief product officer of Navis, an operational technologies and services provider in the supply chain sector, has expressed his views about the digitalisation process of the shipping industry.
In an interview with Antonis Karamalegos, managing editor of Container News, Scott Holland spoke about the upcoming changes in the industry, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the digital transition and the possible solutions that technology can provide to port congestion issues.
- Many shipping professionals and experts believe that the shipping industry is considered a “late adopter” of digital technology. What is your opinion about the progress of the digitalisation in the shipping industry?
I am going to be a contrarian here and disagree. While I would not characterize our industry as early adopters on the technology curve, I would not classify us as late adopters. I believe that we have tended to be conservative based on the mission criticality of our field, and as a result, we may fall more toward the middle of the technology adoption curve. That said, there are clear examples over the past five years of a shift toward earlier adoption of technological innovation when applicable use cases are identified. The challenge for the technology company is to provide these more novel solutions in a way that is evolutionary and which does not impact ongoing production operations. For example, a terminal operator might readily adopt a new cloud-based RTG optimization module with a step-wise implementation approach while continuing to operate the remainder of their facility with an on-prem TOS, whereas a wholesale move to replace an existing yard management system with a novel approach during a capacity-constrained period might warrant greater caution.
- What will be the most crucial changes, caused by the digitalisation of the industry, in the next 10 years?
A ten-year crystal ball is a bit elusive and perhaps overly aggressive given the rate of technology change, and the impact on the shipping industry is challenging to predict with any accuracy. Based on our conversations with customers, we can reliably predict significant movement in data democratization across stakeholders, the use of predictive analytics within and across operations, and ultimately greater supply chain automation. The next effect will be a more efficient and resilient supply chain that better accommodates the types of disruption we have observed over the past two years.
- Do you believe that Covid-19 pandemic and related disruptions have accelerated the digital transformation of the shipping industry?
Pandemic-related disruptions and adjustments have increased an already emerging focus on operational flexibility, data visibility, and predictive solutions. The need to manage greater cargo volumes and work within the constrained capacity at each supply chain node translates into a greater sense of urgency around effective leverage of existing digital solutions as well as stronger integrations between stakeholders both up and downstream. Specifically, we are seeing greater interest in our equipment optimization capabilities, operational data platform, and predictive analytics capabilities. The ability to leverage these types of capabilities across multiple digital nodes has been of particular interest as we discuss the Navis+Kaleris combined portfolio with customers.
- In the last several months, there is a continuing port congestion problem in major port regions in the world, such as California, US and China. How can technology and digital systems assist in the global congestion issue?
The issue of congestion we see at major ports often does not start and end at the ports themselves. It is a multi-layered issue that requires a solution that integrates operational execution, data democratization, and multi-node optimization. Data democratization among stakeholders is foundational, and being able to do something with that data across the nodes and modes will be required for constituent supply chain execution (SCE) solutions. For example, if a trucking company releases advance data on arrival times to a port, this helps ports manage demand ahead of time, optimizing cargo operations by stacking containers closer to the exit points as trucks approach. This will immediately accelerate truck turnaround at the port, and increase capacity in the supply chain by removing a major bottleneck. All stakeholders, including trucking companies, distribution centers, cargo owners, to name a few, will benefit from this solution by having visibility and better control over status of the cargo.
