Gautam Kashyap, Thome’s Vice President for Business Development, outlined the group’s strategies for success at the 2018 Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) Shipping 2018 conference.
“Ship Management is changing and the right mix of digitalization, automation and data analytics are key criteria towards providing greater efficiency, transparency and value-added services to clients in the future,” he said.
Ship managers will need to invest heavily in new technology to keep up with changes in the market and Thome has already started this process by developing an Operations Hub, based at its headquarters in Singapore, which enables situational awareness for both duty-personnel and Thome’s crisis teams.
This is the first stage in a three-stage process enabling remote tracking of individual ships in the fleet, passage planning, security risk assessment, weather routing, video conferencing, integrated vessel management system (NAU) implementation, and individual on-board CCTV remote monitoring.
Two additional stages of improvements in the hub are planned. Stage two will further improve efficiency and availability through operational support functions like cargo handling, port turnaround and energy efficiency monitoring.
Stage three will concentrate on advanced support covering areas like cyber security, machinery condition assessment and trouble shooting.
Crew and onshore training is also crucial and Thome has a very comprehensive program in place to ensure that all staff receive correct and relevant training for their roles which are updated on a regular basis.
In conclusion, Kashyap felt that a company’s size would be a critical factor in being able to meet customer demands and industry requirements in the future.