Forget the financial failures of the past, now is the time to focus on a more efficient and technologically advanced German shipping of the future.

This is according to leading industry figures at the opening debate at the SMM conference in Hamburg.

German parliamentary secretary at the federal ministry for economic affairs Uwe Becker said that the finance model of the German shipping industry had proven to be a flop and new ideas are needed.

“There was too much focus on building rather than operating vessels,” he said. “We must do our best to make sure we come back to the healthy financing of the industry so the economic perspective of German owners improves,” he added.

Thomas Rehder, owner of Reederei Carsten Rehder, suggested: “We must look beyond the (German financial shipping) crisis and see what we can do to optimise the existing fleet.”

That, he said, would involve embracing the move toward digitalisation through automated functions onboard ships which would help  “avoiding human faults and problems.”

Performance monitoring and condition-based surveying and maintenance of equipment are other factors that will help owners reduce operating costs in a difficult market where money is tight, he advised.

“There are many things we can do,” he said.

He pointed to increasing transparency between owners and charterers and a changing network of relationships between parties emerging from the data and information boom.

But who has access to what information and what standards should apply when assessing data is an important discussion for the shipping industry to have, he said.

“We need a unified set of standards, so that what applies in Tokyo also applies in Hamburg. Then we need to ask how the data will be protected. We need some neutral clearing office where classification societies could become the custodian of data to make sure data is appropriately protected,” Rehder said.

Reinhard Luken, general manager at the German Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering Association, representing shipbuilders, described the situation of his members as “incredibly successful,” amid a cruise shipbuilding boom.

But he warned that Germany must use its technological skills in advancing the potential of digitalisation or risk falling behind.

“The model of Hamburg as the centre of world ship finance is crumbling,” he said. “So we need to get back to our core strengths and make full use of it.”

The SMM shipping exhibition and conference opened in Hamburg today with 2,200 exhibitors from 66 different countries.