What Does the Future Hold for Shipping?
Remi Eriksen, Group President and CEO DNV GL, discussed some of the upcoming developments in the maritime world in his speech at the Danish Maritime Technology Conference.
The main question for all of us is: What does the future hold for shipping?
Obviously, the future is notoriously hard to predict and a straight answer is far from easy to give.
What I do know is that shipping will continue to play an important part of the world economy for decades to come. But the industry itself, the vessels, the infrastructure, and the systems that connect them could change substantially.
We can of course not ignore the current market situation and the structural effect this might have. But, today is not an arena for fear and pessimism. This is an arena for curiosity, innovation and opportunity.
Today shipping plays an integral part of the global economy and moves more than 80 per cent of world trade by volume. Not only does shipping move the majority share of world trade, it does so while emitting the least amount of greenhouse gasses per transported unit.
The next potential game changer in shipping is additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. Not only can additive manufacturing result in new designs for more efficient machinery components, it could also allow spare parts to be produced locally in various ports around the world. This would improve responsiveness to market demands, shorten the time for repairs and contribute to more efficient ship operations.
The shipping industry will have to continue innovating to keep up with the increasing expectations from end users, charterers, regulators and society at large. This is not just about the technology itself, but also about how successful we are in scaling it to the point where it delivers real financial, environmental and societal benefits.
The key drivers for the coming decade are decarbonisation and digitalisation and offer opportunities for the maritime industry to become safer, more efficient while at the same time reducing its environmental footprint.
At DNV GL we are excited to be a part of this transformation. We will continue to work with stakeholders across the maritime world to realize the potential of our industry – so that the outlook for shipping tomorrow will be brighter than today.