The marine industry has played a significant role in the expansion of trade over the past years. From big data to AI, the industry can expect extreme changes in the years to come.

FREMONT, CA: The landscape of marine is moving with the rising with the evolving technology. Advances in shipbuilding, smart shipping, advanced materials, big data and analytics, robotics, sensors and communications in conjunction with an even more skilled workforce are all having monumental shifts in how the maritime industry are approaching the new challenges and opportunities.

The shipping industry is constantly being affected by global trends and by advancement in the technologies. Here are the top 3 trends that perfectly illustrate some of the changes in the shipping industry and the new opportunities that these create for the following sector.

Mega Ships

The advancements in ship technology, structure and materials will drive to even bigger mega-ships, especially within the container shipping industry. Manufacturers will take advantage of the lower transport costs that these vessels can provide by gearing their production to make the most efficient use of this container space.

LNG

There is increasing interest in the potential of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a fuel for commercial shipping. LNG is believed to help the operators in meeting their targets for minimizing emissions, while also being competitive on price. Carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced up to 25% when compared with the diesel engines. While conventional oil-based fuels will continue to dominate in the coming years, there is likely to be raised in the adoption of LNG for specialist vessels, which allows the technology to be proved and developed on a larger scale.

Robots

Three new types of robots will be in use by 2030. The initial one will be a learning robot, the second will be a practical robot, and the third type will be a mini-robot, that are useful for inspections in harsh, dangerous environments. This robotics will utilize cognition, versatility, imitation, sense, and adaptability. The development of these kinds of robots is linked to the development of other technologies, like sensors and remote controls. These solutions require system response times of less than a few milliseconds.