Last year was tough, no doubt about it. The global spread of Covid-19 still has a massive impact on[ds_preview] all maritime industries. In addition, the shipping sector faces the unsolved humanitarian crisis of crew changes. Although some may see light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccination programmes being rolled out in many countries, it seems to be quite obvious that the rough times will last through this year. Nevertheless, even while struggling at all fronts, the focus today has to be shifted towards what happens next.
The SMM used to be the most attended trade show, one of the most important events for the maritime world after all – a market place for companies to present and sell their most advanced products and technologies. As we all know, this won’t happen this year. No meet and greet, no exchange of those many ideas and inspirations to take back home. That’s a real shame, so let’s hope for the better in 2022.
Besides that, the SMM has always been a place to discuss the way into the future. Well, at least to a certain extent, this is going to happen during this year’s purely digital conference programme. Make sure you don’t miss the Maritime Future Summit, co-organized by HANSA together with the SMM team, on digitization and artificial intelligence coming to shipping. Two sessions featuring high-ranking international speakers will be streamed for free on Tuesday, 2nd of February.
Digitization and automation, including AI, are certainly among the most pressing issues for the maritime industry. The ambitious climate targets which have to be met by 2030 and 2050 will become an even greater challenge though, bearing in mind that the clock is already ticking and – until today – the maritime industry is not known for being the fastest to transform and adapt to changes.
While political and regulatory pressure ist building up, shipping and suppliers remain in limbo, despite quite a lot of promising projects and futuristic ship designs, be it sails, LNG, bio-fuels, methanol or ammonia. In a recent report, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has called the industry’s decarbonization goals the »fourth propulsion revolution« – no more and no less than this.
The report also pointed out very clearly that all efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions require a huge amount of R&D before they can become viable solutions. The amount of money needed represents a huge financial burden for the industry and there exists a significant risk of failure if governments refuse to support the industry properly.
»Collaboration, cooperation and communication has never been more important,« said the IMO’s Secretary General Kitack Lim in an interview with HANSA. Global concerted action is required, commitment from all stakeholders is needed, not only in the context of the SMM. So let’s go.
Enjoy reading!
Krischan Förster
