Big data of shipping industry is a rich mine

By Shi Jing & Hou Jia & Chen Xi

At present, big data technologies have been successfully applied in many fi elds such as medical care, energy, communications, and e-commerce. In the shipping industry, some prophetic companies have tried and achieved some preliminary outcome.

It is reported that countries such as Europe, Japan,and South Korea have carried out pre-research, data collection, and exploration of shipping big data application to varying degrees. As early as 2011, Europe had published the “MUNIN” project with unmanned navigation of sea vessels as the goal, aiming to develop a new generation of control systems and communication technologies to display and control ships in and away from the port. This practice undoubtedly promoted the development of informationized ships and shipping.In November 2013, the Korean Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries also published the “Korea e-navigation correspondence strategy.” In July 2014, the Japan Shipbuilding Technology Research Association was supported by a Japanese consortium and began work on the ship's “big data landmarks.”

Around the world, some ports are more advanced in port information construction such as Rotterdam Port,Hamburg Port, Singapore Port, etc. In the application of big data, Singapore Port puts forward the concept of “Port Governance by Big Data” and its information system involves all aspects of the operation of the entire port.

With the official launch of the three major shipping alliances (2M+Hyundai, Ocean, and The Alliance) from April 1, 2017, all aspects such as the route setup and the port layout, as well as network coverage, capacity adjustment, and marketing design, are driving the shipping industry move into the era of big data.

In China, the State Council in 2015 successively issued the “Several Opinions on Using Big Data to Strengthen the Service and Supervision of Market Principals” and the “Outline for the Promotion of Big Data Development”. The big data strategy has risen to the national strategy. Within a short period of time,big data becomes prevalent in various industries,including the traditional shipping industry. As an example, “Container Express”, the first container freight e-commerce platform built in the Nansha Port area of Guangzhou, has provided eff i cient, high-quality,and diverse shipping services as well as user experience for hundreds of companies within 3 months after going online. Additionally, thousands of trailer drivers have joined the cooperation.

The development of shipping big data is still faced with many problems, and there are shortcomings which need be addressed. First, improving data sharing and soft environment. On one hand, government departments must break the barriers of data division and achieve data sharing and integration. On the other hand, open government data to the public and provide the basis for social co-governance. Second, big data applications should be demand-oriented despite the data is provided by the government or various companies, Third, the lack of talents who understand both business and technology should be dealt with.