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A quiet year for shipping? That's not to be expected for 2024. Major challenges await us, and although they are not new, some of them will become even more acute next year, says Fabian Feldhaus, managing director and co-founder of German venture studio Flagship Founders. Feldhaus established Flagship Founders with Malte Cherdron in May 2020, and so far, the Berlin-based outfit has produced four successful start-ups focused on maritime technologies, logistics and shipping. In terms of the challenges that lie ahead, Feldhaus lists the big three as he sees them in conversation with Splash Extra. The first is the ongoing crewing crisis and growing demands on seafarers. Too few and insufficiently trained staff dissatisfied with their working conditions – is theshipping industry's crewing problem in a nutshell, according to Feldhaus. "We still have almost zero diversity; and Generation Z is entering the labour market, who will demand new and better working conditions," he says. This personnel problem is exacerbated by the fact that the demands on seafarers are changing massively and rapidly due to decarbonisation and digitalisation, but their training does not reflect this. "They have to work with new technologies and tools and fulfill new regulatory requirements, which increases the pressure and fear of doing something wrong," Feldhaus asserts. For him, the two problems – staff shortages and growing demands due to digitalisation and decarbonisation – are closely linked, as the growing pressure to change is making seafarers even more dissatisfied and professions in the shipping industry less attractive. There are no simple solutions here, but there are many individual “building blocks” and Feldhaus has identified a variety of measures that could improve satisfaction and mental health of seafarers. First and foremost, appreciation of their work, which is reflected not only, but above all, in better pay. Connectivity onboard so that seafarers can communicate with their loved ones. Better medical care including in the area of mental health. Better safety standards, to name but a few. These measures must be implemented and paid for by shipping companies, which poses challenges for many, he notes, adding that, fortunately, there are already many start-ups and providers with digital solutions that can partially solve these problems. "It is important that seafarers are better trained. New curricula and continuous training are needed. Digital offerings will play a significant role here in 2024. These include online learning platforms that are comparatively inexpensive, efficient and widely applicable. Virtual training programmes and simulations are often particularly effective,” he says. Feldhaus adds that improved organisational and administrative processes around crewing have a direct impact on seafarers' work environment and free up management resources to focus on seafarers' wellbeing. One of Flagship Founders' spinoffs, Tilla Technologies, with their crew change platform and Isabelle Rickmers-led digital job marketplace Turtle, are two examples of how tech start-ups can help companies with this, he claims, stating further that there are a variety of digital solutions that improve the workflows onboard and provide concrete relief for seafarers such as behavioural change start-up Signol and operational intelligence peer Kaiko Systems. The second challenge identified by Feldhaus is decarbonisation. "Even if we hear it all the time – the topic is too important to ignore: decarbonisation remains the defining issue in 2024 and beyond," he says. He reckons that the EU ETS, which comes into force in January and is a much tougher piece of legislation than EEXI and CII, will bring increased pressure and might even threaten the existence of smaller shipping companies due to the immense additional costs. It will not stop at the EU ETS. It is expected that the US and Asia will follow suit with comparable regulations. In addition, there are major uncertainties as to which alternative fuels will prevail plus the problem that there is still no infrastructure for refuelling with alternative fuels – despite the planned regulation, FuelEU Maritime. This means that the hurdles for investing in new ships and fuel infrastructure are high and everyone is hesitating, even though time is of the essence, Feldhaus warns. For him, there are no simple solutions in sight, but startups such as zero44, the Friederike Hesse-led CO2 management specialist previously interviewed by Splash Extra, could help companies stay one step ahead of regulatory compliance issues. "Various software and hardware solutions on the market, from voyage optimisation to hull cleaning and just-in-time arrival software, drive immediate reductions in fuel consumption and emissions with the help of data analytics. These optimisation solutions will be important components of decarbonisation efforts in the coming years," Feldhaus says. He finds that pressure is also growing from within the industry, as demonstrated just a few days ago by the declaration from MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and Wallenius Wilhelmsen at COP28, a development that is to be welcomed. Data quality, data silos and lack of data integration is another challenge the shipping industry is faced with. "Our industry understands that it needs to digitalise. This requires high data quality, access to the relevant data for stakeholders and also adept handling of the growing cyber security risks. None of this has yet materialised," Feldhaus highlights. He admits that there is a great deal of mistrust among companies and a fear of exposing their data. "Nobody wants to give their competitors an advantage. In addition, many companies are already struggling internally with data silos and data management. Currently, many have large amounts of data, but are not yet utilising it sensibly,” he says. Common standards would be a blessing, but Feldhaus does not see this materialising in the foreseeable future. Instead, he sees the following levers. First, players working on data solutions must be independent – otherwise companies will not build up enough trust to share their data. The failure of TradeLens this year has shown this. Secondly, data governance is important at shipping company level, and responsibilities for this should be clearly assigned. Thirdly, data integration platforms and APIs to simplify the exchange of data between different maritime systems will drive change. Fourthly, good training of maritime personnel is essential: When employees are well trained, it makes high data quality and successful integration more likely. Can the shipping sector manage these? "None of the challenges will disappear completely in 2024 and technology will definitely not be able to solve these problems on its own," Feldhaus says, concluding: "Many exciting solutions in maritime tech that will enable the industry to tackle the problems proactively instead of sitting back and waiting for things to happen, and possibly suffering for it.”

Maritime tech solutions for shipping’s biggest challenges in 2024

Splash Extra sits down with Fabian Feldhaus, co-founder of German venture studio Flagship Founders.

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