The shipping industry is continually changing and adapting to meet the needs of the commercial marketplace so that it can become more competitive and cost-effective.
FREMONT, CA: The shipping sector is always evolving and adapting to satisfy the demands of the commercial market and raise its level of efficiency and competitiveness. It is a sizable and intricate sector that is constantly impacted by trends on a worldwide scale as well as by developments in technology, materials, and fuels. Here are five emerging trends that properly capture some of the dynamic shifts taking place in the maritime sector and the new business prospects these changes bring to marine manufacturing companies.
1. Digital Sensoring: The sophistication of the technologies used to track ship performance and operations has been rising constantly. Future ships will be equipped with a full sensor network to monitor every element of operations, including finding flaws and pinpointing places in need of maintenance or repair. Additionally, stronger ship-to-shore connections will enable a team of fleet managers on land to supervise the majority of a ship's operations.
2. Bigger mega-ships: Megaships will get increasingly bigger as ship technology, design, and materials advance, especially in the container shipping sector. The MOL Triumph, which was finished in March of this year, is the biggest container ship ever built, nearly400 metres long. Up to 20,150 TEU containers can be transported on this enormous ship. By adjusting their manufacturing to make the best use of this container capacity, manufacturers will benefit from the decreased transport costs that these vessels can offer.
3. Greener shipping: In the future, there will be even more pressure to minimise the carbon footprint of the world's maritime fleets. Numerous innovations, including low-carbon fuels, more streamlined hulls, more effective propeller designs, enhanced trip planning to save on fuel, better hull coatings, and even air cushions to lessen friction, are being investigated.
4. Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) as a fuel: The idea of using LNG as a fuel for commercial transportation is attracting more and more attention. Those in favour of LNG think it can lower operating costs while also assisting operators in meeting their emission reduction goals. When compared to diesel engines, CO2 emissions can be cut by up to 25 per cent. While conventional oil-based fuels will likely continue to rule in the foreseeable future, the use of LNG for specialised boats is anticipated to increase, providing a chance for the technology to be validated and developed on a greater scale.
5. Solar and Wind power for ships: To power its fleets in the future, the shipping sector is investigating renewable energy sources. A portion of this technology has previously undergone testing and trials. The most likely use of this technology in commercial shipping, meanwhile, would be systems that save fuel use by adding onboard wind turbines or solar panels to the existing power source.
These are just a few of the developments that make marine technology such an interesting and demanding field to work in right now. Marine technology is a true land of opportunity for organisations of all sizes due to the numerous difficult technological challenges that our shipping industry is facing.
