![]() Scale is one thing proving the ROI to shipowners is another. “It’s definitely a matter a scale, because at the end of the day the total universe of ships is pretty minimal in the grand scheme of things.” Part of the problem in moving these technologies forward faster in maritime is simply the size of the industry itself. “Do you think you’ll see a fully autonomous Staten Island ferry? I don’t think so.” Even some shorter local routes are not slam dunks for autonomy. While the technology has arrived to enable autonomy on short, local routes, Coles believes that there is a level of complexity, standardization and control that is missing, key ingredients to seamlessly fit together systems between ship and shore. We have a long way to go in the maritime industry.” It’s not like autonomous cars driving down the highway. “You can read an article on an autonomous tug … so what! I’m not knocking it, but it’s like having a remote driven car driving around a track in Disney Land. “We’re right at the very beginning still (of this technology revolution)” said Coles. I don’t know how they can go back to business as usual, because everything around them will be different … cargo availability, banks, charterers, the way that countries deal with ships coming in and out … there will be a need to be more efficient.”Īccording to Coles, despite generous helpings of hype from the media and a few large tech giants, he said that “the technology currently found onboard ships, in the operation centers run by shipmanagers and in owners’ head-offices is improvised, disconnected and fragmented.” ![]() “If this continues another two or three months, and trade continues to decline, there are shipping companies that are not going to come out the other end.”ĭespite a “compression” of the market, maritime stands strong as the primary heavy hauler of raw materials and goods, and today’s broken economy will present “opportunity for companies to work in a completely different way when they come out the other side. “It depends how long this goes on,” said Coles, when asked to identify likely first movers in vessel and operational modernization. But real change takes real investment, and as of mid-April many industries and corporations were focused on simply staying afloat, let alone investing in new technology. “It might be the kind of Black Swan event that we need to trigger real change in the shipping industry, in particular its approach to digitalization of vessel operation,” Coles recently wrote. ![]() He sees the current COVID-19 situation as a potential inflection point for real change moving forward. In his previous job as the CEO of Transas, Coles spoke often about the real change needed within the maritime sector to bring its operations and technology up to speed with other transport logistics sectors. “Every day I wake up and think OK, ‘what has changed, and how is this going to impact how we operate in the next 24 hours?,’ because right now you can only think about the next 24 hours,” said Coles. That makes his contention that his current ‘long range’ planning is the next 24 hours all the more jarring. And unlike many in the maritime sector, he freely shares his opinions ‘on the record’ in both traditional and social media. “That was a one-time thing on one-day, with implications that we still live with today.”Ĭoles is regarded for being a visionary of sorts, someone that is adept and willing to distill a variety of complex topics and trends into a clear long-range picture. “The only shock to my system that was at the same level was 9/11, because of its impact on the world,” is how Frank Coles puts the current COVID-19 pandemic in perspective. We caught up with Coles via video conference from Hong Kong last month to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on maritime, the future of digitalization and autonomy, and the shameful treatment of seafarers. Frank Coles, CEO, Wallem Group, is known to “call ‘em like he sees ‘em”.
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