A new report from Navis states that maritime executives are now in a position where they want a visible supply despite the competitive and security risks of sharing data.
Such a change in attitude could be a seismic shift in the industry, and the precursor to wide-scale streamlining of the ocean supply chain - a long heralded goal for maritime modernisers.
The Navis study, entitled ‘Working as One’ is based on a survey of 250 shipping industry executives and professionals from terminals, ocean carriers, shippers, logistics providers, consignees, port authorities, vessel owners and other members of the global container supply chain.
The report examines the extent to which different players can work together in a unified fashion with a common set of shared data to improve coordination and synchronization of operational processes.
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With increasing executive buy-in for greater collaboration and data sharing around end-to-end container planning processes, the notion of tapping into a larger ecosystem of shared data appears to be within reach.
Key takeaway answers from the report include:
“Traditionally the ocean shipping industry has been comprised of isolated processes,” said Andy Barrons, Chief Strategy Officer, Navis.
“Sailing schedules have not been accurate; as ships would often speed to a terminal, only to wait there because of delays affecting other vessels that, in the absence of real-time data, could not be anticipated.
“In response, XVELA and Navis are developing technology to enable the simplification and synchronization of planning processes across the container flow from stowage planning, to berth-window management, to yard planning.
“There are initial pilot programs in place and beyond that, quite a few other ports are already looking at collaborative platforms as a key for reducing congestion and taking out the unpredictability of the container’s flow through the port, all the way to the shipper’s distribution centre.”
While the potential upside is clear, several challenges remain when it comes to sharing data in real time.
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Survey respondents reported the lack of industry data standards as the biggest challenge to achieving real-time collaboration.
In addition, concerns around data sharing remains a primary obstacle with 51% noting an unwillingness of others to share data as a leading barrier to collaboration and 44% not comfortable sharing their own key data.
But the industry’s attitude towards collaboration has started to shift and there has been a surge of interest in data sharing to tackle endemic inefficiencies.
Survey findings support this uptick, with organizations reporting that they are already considering better collaboration with their operational partners – 61% have spent at least two years evaluating collaborative processes.
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Looking down the pipeline, attitudes remain optimistic with 70% expecting collaboration between shipping lines and terminals to become commonplace within the next five years and 38% predicting it will happen within three years.
Guy Rey-Herme, President, XVELA, said: “It is incredibly hard to manage what you cannot see.
“There is a real need throughout the ocean supply chain to synchronize traditionally siloed activities into a more streamlined process based on communicating a higher quality of data and sharing that information earlier; allowing more time to plan the whole operation.
“XVELA is designed to provide visibility in real time, so that each party can make better-informed decisions using reliable information.
“Ultimately, as the industry achieves the ideal of ‘working as one,’ the resulting transparency and efficiency gains will allow stakeholders across the supply chain to not only cut costs, but also to focus more keenly on what counts even more – the customer.”
With change on the horizon, many believe it will be the shipping lines and major shipping alliances that will be the primary drivers for synchronizing information in the carrier/terminal planning space.
Global terminal operators and individual terminals will lead the way in improving communication around berth window management, and port authorities will accelerate collaboration efforts among the port community.
The full survey is available here
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