Introduction

Digitization is coming fast to the maritime industry. A combination of tightening environmental regulations and shaky market fundamentals is steadily nudging shipowners toward big data and innovation in hopes of extracting hidden value. There has been growing investment in new technologies throughout its many sectors. While connecting a ship to the digital environment is technically straightforward, there remain many hurdles before widespread adoption. Nevertheless, the years ahead bring with them many monumental challenges. For the maritime industry to stay profitable in an era of sustainability, adoption and integration of IoT is the critical first step to meet the demands of the future.

The primary driver of maritime IoT is in response to the IMOs goals to fight climate change. The initial strategy calls for a reduction of 40% by 2030 and 50-70% by 2050 based on 2018 emission levels. Averaged out from this past year, that’s a 6% annual reduction for all ships per ton/mile. To reiterate, that’s 6% every year – until 2050. What’s even more staggering is that a recent study by the IMO revealed that based on projected growth and demand for shipping, the continuation of “business as usual” would produce an increase in GHG emissions of 50% by 2050. As there is yet to be established a viable alternative fuel, the only option in the near term is the utilization of technology on all fronts for maximum optimization.