Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) participated in the prestigious Hong Kong Maritime week, which was held from November 17 to 23.
An important event in the world maritime calendar this year too, it brought together by key industry players from across the globe, to showcase their expertise and network at the number of events that were organized throughout the week. Lloyds of London, a big name in the industry, played a significant role in the annual event by organizing the ‘Maritime Business Forum’ held at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum on 20th of November.
HIPG was a key sponsor of the Business Forum which this year focused on the topic ‘Technology reaches beyond regulatory compliance.’
The two panels debated several viewpoints concluding that while the shipping industry would inevitably see a digital transformation taking place, it may well take some companies by surprise, while others might be forced to comply. One of the panelists had expressed the view that when disruption takes place in any industry, it is usually the incumbents that are the last to see it coming. He opined that the commercial side of the industry would see a huge change, because of the way in which data is processed and while still quite a long way from the fundamental business of shipping, the industry is moving closer to a big data approach to the way information is processed and used to work out pricing.
It was discussed however, that in the dry bulk and tanker chartering as well as sale and purchase markets, the way this would happen would be less obvious than in the container shipping, logistics and supply chain sectors. Big data would come into play to some extent in the former, but would ultimately be more intensively used by the latter, simply because of the nature of the business, he said.
Another panelist pointed to the collaborative nature of the Global Business Shipping Network (GBSN). The increasing digitalization of the industry now means that they are begining to have to collaborate with the terminal operators more to become part of an integrated supply chain solution. To an extent, GSBN brings together all players in the industry to take part in a collaborative platform to leverage the benefits of digitalization, he said.
Tissa Wickremasinge, COO of HIPG, who participated in the business forum said, “Whilst this is the future, from a South Asian perspective we are many steps behind and need a quantum leap if we are to match up and keep up. The shipping industry would invariably see a digital transformation in the years to come and with it disruption, would happen to the traditional ways of doing business and this would take many by surprise. In response to this, I could only echo the words of a panelist at the forum who said the key to making the best of this situation is by collaborative efforts and making use of the technology available.”
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