The future of maritime service providers and manufacturers
Recently, Mr. Mads Friis Sørensen has published an interesting text on LinkedIn (the link is provided at the end of this text) with the title “What is the future role of the maritime service providers and manufacturers?”.
I'm far from an expert on the issue discussed by Mr. Sørensen, but the trends I've heard seem to support a different model. It seems to me that equipment and especially system manufacturers are now more interested in renting/leasing the equipment/system than selling it according to the classic model.
Obviously, this model comes with a huge burden of complications of which the investment in parts that cannot realistically be removed from the vessel should the lease/lease end is just the least of it. The legal implications, including for data ownership and responsibility for action in critical situations (such as but not limited to safety critical), are far more complex and potentially damaging.
Given the above-mentioned disadvantages of the rental model, this model, which I remember being suggested by various texts I've read on the Internet in recent years, may not be the best solution now.
Maybe Mr. Sørensen perspective, respectively “the ship owners have taken a big leap towards becoming tech companies themselves” (quote from the LinkedIn post), is more realistic.
If that will be the case, I would suggest a comparison inspired by the history of information technology hardware:
Manufacturers of components such as chips, drives, memories, screens, accessories will only do their best to produce what they know best, the components, but others combine all of these into systems. These others will do their best to adjust the system, and not necessarily the components, to the needs of the market and, according to the Pareto principle, will satisfy at least 80% of the market requirements with systems made from standard components and will make a customization effort involving a certain quantity of custom components only for the remaining approximately 20% of market needs.
Or maybe the future will reveal a dynamic ecosystem where both models above will cohabitate together and maybe with many others what we can’t imagine just now but will be imagined by the future professionals of this industry.
Reference:
Pictures:
Mosaic photographed by Ramona Popa
Photo by william william on Unsplash
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https://unsplash.com/photos/NndKt2kF1L4
Street art photographed by Ramona Popa in Athens, Greece