Pierre C Sames, group technology and research director with classification society DNV GL, kicked off the Fathom News Disruptive Talks at Nor Shipping by telling the packed hall that shipping needs to skill up if it is to meet the challenges of the coming years head on.
“We need people with with new mind-sets but more urgently we need people with new skills,” he said.
Sames went on to explain how the changing technology landscape has impacted DNV GL’s own work practices.
He said the class society’s delivery models have changed and the organisation is now moving towards more condition-based classification, where they can monitor the actual state of the asset. Digital models are helping to deliver this new strategy.
To be at the forefront, DNV GL has to observe what is going what is going on right across the sector and also outside shipping, added Sames.
Data is key to the future of shipping, he says. He believes that it is only when you share data that you give real value to it. DNV GL already has a lot of historical data from inspections and now they need to bring all this to life. This will create new insights into the state of assets, he explained.
Some of DNV GL’s pilot studies have shown that the quality of some data coming off vessels is worse than expected. But a class society can offer a service to improve or clean up the data, Sames explained.
Sames says they still don’t know at this stage how good the data coming off vessels is but he believes there are a lot more sensors onboard that are not yet being used.
He adds that shipyards and equipment designers are not taking advantage of onboard data to deliver an improved product. The industry is, however, now moving in the direction of delivering performance rather than just a product.
Sames believes there are three key areas to focus on in shipping in the coming years: digitalisation, new fuels and automation.
