Silver lining and catalyst are two words that ship managers repeatedly use to describe how technology has helped them through the coronavirus pandemic and crew change crisis, and accelerated change.

In just one aspect — training — a survey by crewing specialist Danica Crewing Services revealed that nearly one-third of all seafarers said they had received online training this year — up from 4% in 2019.

Columbia Shipmanagement chief executive Mark O'Neil said Covid-19 had radically changed the service provided by managers.

“We weren’t able to get boots on deck, and check what our crews were doing or the physical condition of our vessels. We had to rewrite the whole book and look at the whole concept of remote surveys and using technology,” said the head of the biggest international tanker manager.

Columbia had invested $1.5m in a vessel performance control room before the pandemic. “By golly it has served us well. Had we not, this pandemic would have hit us much, much harder,” O'Neil said.

Wilhelmsen Ship Management is responding to the rapid changes with a two-pronged reorganisation that takes in digitalisation as well as decarbonisation.

Fresh focus

“The traditional ship management business is being restructured. We need a new structure focusing on technology and digital integration so that we can get more out of it,” said president and chief executive Carl Schou.

Wilhelmsen is employing new people, including a vice president for technical, and establishing a new vessel-performance team, he added.

Anglo-Eastern chief executive Bjorn Hojgaard said: “One of the silver linings of this pandemic has been the use of video conferencing tools, webinars, meetings and remote inspections, which was something we had only scratched the surface of before.”

In the past 12 months, he said the company had done more than 20,000 virtual meetings — many of them with crew at sea or at home.

Columbia Shipmanagement's vessel performance control room. Photo: Columbia Shipmanagement

O'Neil added: “All of this is not going to suddenly revert back. We have learnt so much, and it is a case of picking and choosing what we previously did and building it into what we do now rather than going back to what we previously did and picking what has come out of Covid.

“It’s been a huge catalyst for change, but we were on that road anyway,” he said.

In the mix

But the question of the mix between technology and human intervention is still open.

Wallem Shipmanagement managing director and interim chief executive John-Kaare Aune said: “We all see it [technology] as a positive bonus, but it is not going to replace sending people on board and attending in person.

“It’s a very good add-on,” he said, but, “it’s extremely important to get people on the ships, to not just observe everything from a camera and to get feedback from the crews.

Thome Group said technology eventually enabled it to perform regular remote audits, inspections and vessel visits, and it has used Microsoft Teams to communicate with vessels. It believes remote inspection and audits are here to stay.

Chief executive Olav Nortun said: “I don’t think it will be back to the old days. There will be a mix. Is there much more to learn? Yes, there is.

“We have learned that leaving crew alone and no people on board for inspection is not good. We want this human touch to be part of it,” he said.

However, Nortun said the past year had started something that will not stop, and it is likely crews will not be visited as often as before while technology is used more.

Home working

Wilhelmsen, which has an autonomous vessel control centre in Oslo, said working from home caught it by surprise, but it is working well. “It shows that people can adapt. Things that were thought to be totally impossible to do such as remote surveys and port state control inspections have now become the norm,” Schou said.

Hojgaard added that operational technology can be hooked up to ships to support decision making, but it will still require more heavy investment.

However, savings are possible. Danica managing director Henrik Jensen was among those saying online training has cut travel and accommodation costs significantly, and crew like being trained at home as they can spend more time with their families.

Jonathan Boonzaier contributed to this story.