Vinay Sharma, Chief Information Officer at UAE-based ports and logistics firm, Gulftainer Group offers a succinct view on how the UAE maritime industry grappled with the pandemic, and of battles lost and won. While speaking exclusively to GN Focus, he says, “Covid-19 has demonstrated just how critical supply chains are. There hasn’t been one single factor that has caused so much change and disruption in such a short time. The world has seen how a single disruptive episode can wipe off years worth of profits. Suddenly the industry was forced to review their traditional strategies and methods, shun their “catch-up later with tech” plans and focus on long-term resilience rather than short-term profits.”
Covid-19 has demonstrated just how critical supply chains are. There hasn’t been one single factor that has caused so much change and disruption in such a short time.
He goes on to add that while certain Covid-19 related novelties will diminish, the positive is that customers now recognise the value of supply-chain resilience, especially through technology and that drives innovation today.
The need of the hour, he says is “to have the necessary tools to focus on foresight rather than hindsight — robots and drones to improve efficiency and reduce human interaction and staff shortages, artificial intelligence to reduce cost and risk and optimise routes, blockchain for better data visibility and process efficiency, or advanced analytics and machine learning to forecast and predict the demand better.”
Crew welfare
And while on the topic of trends, Matthew Paice, Vice President, Marine Services MESAA, Inchcape Shipping Services, is emphatic about how there will be renewed focus on crew welfare in a post-pandemic scenario.
Ship owners and managers will handle crew movement rotations differently, and will look at how they can improve crew welfare by carrying out crew changes in countries where they have witnessed support to their challenges during the pandemic.
“Ship owners and managers will handle crew movement rotations differently, and will look at how they can improve crew welfare by carrying out crew changes in countries where they have witnessed support to their challenges during the pandemic. Port agents that survive the next few years will have learned to diversify instead of depending on one or two core businesses. This bundling of services will bring greater convenience and savings to customers.” Paice also envisages diversification being a trend for port authorities. “Port agents that survive the next few years will have learned to diversify, depending on one or two core business activities. This bundling of services will bring greater convenience and savings to customers.”
Inventory build-up
Breakbulk shipment is also expected to gain favour once again in the coming months. Roger Clasquin, CEO, RAK Ports, says, “Breakbulk shipments will once again gain momentum as customers move from ‘just in time’ to ‘just in case’ supply models.” He also points out that inventory build-up will be the new normal, increasing the need for warehousing and storage capacities, while drawing attention to the benefits that RAK Ports offers in this space. “At RAK Ports one of our unique features is directly accessible waterfront free zone warehousing.
Challenges and opportunity
However, while several of these trends are expected to perk up markets, challenges, according to stakeholders will persist. Paice, for instance states that the uncertainty and unpredicatability arising from the pandemic will pose obstacles. “Investment decisions and strategic thinking is more difficult in these instances. However, agility and resilience will be key attributes for the future, and companies that can meet these changes will emerge as winners,” says Paice.
Our focus at RAK Ports is to stay ahead of the changes this is bringing to the maritime sector, and to capitalise on our technology investments, enabling us to offer increased efficiency to benefit our customers.
Sharma draws attention to the issues rising from container transport being a highly standardised transport service, and how shipping lines and port operators rarely manage to establish differentiation of services in terms of quality, time and cost. “Effective management of the E2E supply chain with real-time cargo flow visibility has therefore become a key factor in differentiating product and service offerings for competitive advantage,” he says. “Companies that successfully transition into an E2E service provider with a high focus on visibility and predictability will be competitive in the long run. Technology will play the biggest role in this transition.”
Continuing in the same vein, Clasquin of RAK Ports agrees that the global pandemic has given a massive push to digitisation across the world. “Our focus at RAK Ports is to stay ahead of the changes this is bringing to the maritime sector, and to capitalise on our technology investments, enabling us to offer increased efficiency to benefit our customers.”
