Will emerging technologies bring a paradigm shift to the maritime industry? The “Envisioning blue oceanic affairs with emerging technologies” opened the 2nd day of the Delphi Economic Forum VIII on April 27, with experts sharing their insights.

Aspasia Pastra, Associate Research Officer, World Maritime University, Sweden, was the moderator of the panel, along with our very own John Gikopoulos, Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Applied Intelligence; Yoss Leclerc, President & CEO, Logistro Consulting International Inc., Canada; Steven G. Keating, United States Observer to the IHO/IAG Advisory Board on the Law of the Sea, USA; Tafsir Matin Johansson, Assistant Professor, World Maritime University, Sweden; Panos Zachariadis, Technical Director, Atlantic Bulk Carriers Management, Greece; Thomas Aschert, Remote Survey Global Operations Manager, Marine & Offshore, Lloyd’s Register, Germany.

Regarding how Artificial Intelligence will bring the paradigm shift in the maritime sector, Mr Gikopoulos stated: “We are talking about one of the largest and yet, unpenetrated sectors, in terms of technology. Consequently, there is a massive opportunity for change. Focusing on innovative technology, the ability to understand, monitor and predict what happens on a vessel is where AI can make real difference.

In such a traditional legacy field, the biggest challenge is the human factor.

What about the challenges related to these emerging technologies in the sector? “The biggest challenge is the human factor. Maritime is traditionally a legacy field. Things have been done in certain ways for the past 50 years. Thus, change is extremely challenging. A complete shift won’t come within 3 or 5 years. There is high fleet utilisation right now, making it difficult to change how vessels are run.”, Mr Gikopoulos said.

Tune in the whole discussion: