90% of all data generated on board never leaves the ship (Vodafone 2019). Traditionally, the reasons for that were shared between the high cost and limited bandwidth of the satellite ship-to-shore connectivity. However, today 75% of vessels have Internet access, and the amount of information transmitted in shipping grows.
That said, half of the data that is sent ashore is considered non time-critical, meaning that the real value of connectivity is overlooked.
It is the navigation (77%), operations (67%) and maintenance (47%) that represent most value to ship operators. Without adopting connectivity to transmit data within these applications, companies can’t keep up with the pace of the digitalising industry. Autonomous vessels and intelligent transportation already set sail, so ship operators need to make the most out of technologies to stay competitive.
A simple step to pave the way is to connect your ECDIS. This, in turn, makes it possible to use unlimited onshore computation power to share and integrate all the relevant onboard data with onshore fleet operation functions, leading to improved voyage planning, tracking and situational awareness, a more robust compliance and reporting, voyage optimisation and benchmarking and enhanced asset management.
