Introduction

New realities of the post-pandemic world are beginning to emerge in shipping. The change in pace of technological adoption has resulted in many new ‘norms’, as well as bringing to the forefront concepts and ideas that prompt the maritime industry to continue to innovate. 

The concept of digital twinning, where a digital clone of a physical asset is reproduced to enable risk-free manipulation, experimentation, testing, and orientation in a safe and controlled environment, is more established in other industries. For example, the use of a digital twin was recognised as a contributing factor in the safe return of NASA astronauts in the infamous Apollo 13 disaster. Because Nasa engineers could precisely replicate the conditions on the injured spacecraft in a safe environment here on earth, they were able to conduct many trial and error experiments and arrive at a solution that the distressed astronauts could then carry out in space.  Without the freedom to experiment in this way, mission failure would have been a near certainty.