Digitalization and Intelligence: The Driving Forces for the Transformation of the Shipping Industry

With the accelerated advancement of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, digitalization and intelligence have become important drivers for the transformation and upgrading of the shipping industry.

Of course, the entire transformation process is complex, involving challenges in policy and regulatory guidance, infrastructure conditions, maturity of new technologies, capital investment, management changes, and adaptation.

At the Digital and Intelligent Forum of the North Bund International Shipping Forum held on October 23, experts discussed the current status and challenges of the transformation in the shipping industry.

Current Status of Digital Development

"The maritime industry faces many challenges due to its long and complex industrial chain," said Zhao Yan, Vice President of China Classification Society, at the forum, adding that digital transformation is becoming a necessary choice for them to adapt to the development of the new era.

In Zhao Yan's view, the digital development of the entire industry is reflected in four aspects: First, artificial intelligence. Ships with different levels of intelligent navigation capabilities have been put into operation. The design, manufacturing, and operational management of traditional ships are also becoming more intelligent; Second, digital twin technology; Third, high-throughput real-time data transmission technology, enabling efficient interconnection of data between ships and shore, and between ships; Fourth, data security. "Cybersecurity is increasingly becoming one of the most important factors affecting the safety of ships."

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The shipping industry has characteristics such as capital-intensive, technology-intensive, labor-intensive, and strong comprehensiveness. Therefore, the industry chain covers all aspects from design to construction to operation and logistics, with relatively dispersed data. The design and construction systems are complex and interdisciplinary, while the ship operation is capital-intensive and the supervision is quite strict. With these characteristics, digital transformation has been fully applied in the maritime industry chain at present.

For example, in the ship design phase, the full ship 3D digital model serves as a single data source, which can run through the entire process from design to construction to inspection to delivery, gradually realizing R&D design based on the 3D model. From the construction phase, the ship's general assembly construction tends to be intelligent, and the construction of a digital production collaborative management platform will promote the interconnection of multi-source heterogeneous data, driving and optimizing the construction process with data. From the operation phase, by establishing a sensor network to monitor the ship's structure and stress, as well as the operating status of the equipment, it can help the industry carry out health diagnosis of the ship's structure and equipment based on data.

How to Transform in the Future

Xu Zuyuan, former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Chief Expert of the China Association for Science and Technology's Decision Consulting, proposed at the forum that shipping and shipbuilding are traditional industries that have made significant progress in scale, structure, technical level, and international market share. However, "weight" does not equal "physical fitness". China still has a gap with the world's advanced level in terms of scientific and technological innovation capabilities and key core technologies."China's shipbuilding industry suffers from two ailments: one is a 'heart disease' (the main engine is not up to par); the other is a 'nervous disorder' (the information system and automation systems are inadequate). These are two significant gaps," Xu Zuyuan believes that it is necessary to deepen reforms to enhance the effectiveness of foundational institutional mechanisms in the digital domain of shipping and shipbuilding, and to effectively unleash the new productive forces inherent in traditional industries to achieve their transformation and upgrading.

Firstly, it is essential to break down industry barriers by implementing a series of forward-looking and strategic major scientific and technological projects. Encourage shipping and shipbuilding enterprises to conduct common technology research in the digital domain of the industry, strengthen the original orientation of "from 0 to 1," enhance the supply of cutting-edge technologies, and promote the integrated development of industry digitization and intelligence.

Secondly, leverage China's unique advantages of its super large-scale market and industrial system to promote the continuous optimization of policies for the development of the shipping and shipbuilding industry. Systematically advance digital technology innovation and large-scale application, accelerate technological upgrades and iteration, and further expand the scale. At the same time, establish a future-oriented industrial investment growth mechanism, and build an industrial cultivation chain that includes innovation sourcing, transformation incubation, application traction, and ecological construction.

Furthermore, explore and establish a regulatory system that matches new fields and new tracks. It is recommended that the government support and encourage large, medium, small, and start-up enterprises to boldly try and test, to continuously correct errors and accumulate experience, gradually forming a policy and regulatory system adapted to new business forms and models, to safeguard the healthy development of the new shipping ecosystem.

In Xu Zuyuan's view, the transformation of the shipping industry should also focus on digital intelligence to help improve service levels. After more than 20 years of effort, Shanghai has been ranked third in the world's shipping center comprehensive strength for four consecutive years. However, compared with London and Singapore, Shanghai still has a gap in soft power in the fields of maritime professional services such as shipping finance, insurance, law, brokerage, standard setting, and international cooperation. To narrow these gaps, the digitalization, intelligence, and low-carbon transformation and upgrading of the shipping industry is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He suggests that the practical advantages of Shanghai's wide application scenarios should be fully utilized. Drive the innovation and implementation of smart manufacturing, shipping decarbonization, new fuels, marine power, and smart port and shipping under the drive of the shipbuilding, shipping and its supporting industries, ports, and other real economies, to form valuable experience and feed back to the continuous development of the industry. At the same time, seize the strategic opportunity of the country's efforts to accelerate the construction of Shanghai's "five centers," lead with standards, and accelerate the formation of new types of domestic and international cooperative relations, and establish a shipping talent evaluation and use mechanism as soon as possible.

Yi Jiyong, deputy director of the Water Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Transport of China, proposed in his speech that it is necessary to vigorously promote scientific and technological innovation and drive the innovation-driven transformation of the shipping industry. The focus should be on breaking through key technologies such as state perception, cognitive reasoning, autonomous decision-making and execution, information interaction, and operation collaboration to enhance the level of intelligent management of shipping production and operation; it is also necessary to support enterprises and scientific research institutions in innovating the development of core hardware and software such as automated terminal production operation systems and electric control systems. Promote the攻关 of key technologies in electronic chart data collection, production, and release, and strengthen the攻关 of key links and technical bottlenecks in autonomous navigation of ships; it is also necessary to strengthen the construction of new technology application scenarios, and accelerate the coordinated development of key elements of intelligent shipping such as smart ports, smart waterways, intelligent ships, intelligent shipping services, and intelligent navigation protection.