The accelerating digitalisation of the maritime sector is increasing awareness among shipping companies and other stakeholders that there is value to be found in the data created during vessel operations, but a gap remains between this realization and development of the capabilities to do something about it.
Data Availability
One of the fundamental issues to solve in making data available for analysis is establishing ‘ownership’ of that data in the first instance. For shipping companies to maximize the value of their data and ensure that they have the widest possible access to digital services within a competitive market it is necessary that unreasonable and disproportionate limitations are not placed on their ability to access the data produced by their shipboard systems. While, from a legal standpoint, it can be argued that data cannot be ‘owned’ as a type of property, for the sake of this discussion we will use ‘ownership’ as a shorthand to describe a series of rights to control digital information, including the right to access, copy, modify, process and store the data, and to assign these same privileges to others.
On the face of it, it might similarly be expected that data ownership should always be directly linked to the ownership of the equipment or system that generates the data, as in the GPS example. However, the lines begin to blur when we look at vessel equipment that is not explicitly designed to provide data to the user as a primary function. This could include items like a ship’s engine or an automation system, or any number of other vessel installations. It’s easy to claim that the data created by that equipment during its normal operation should belong to the owner of that engine or automation system by default, but in practice this situation can prove far more complex.
In response to these and other potential data ownership issues, the Smart Maritime Council, a cross-industry membership group focused on technology harmonization, standardization and interoperability, has released a set of best practice guidelines that includes a recommended list of data-related topics to consider when purchasing shipboard systems.
Best Practices
Shipping companies are encouraged to discuss these issues with their suppliers when entering into a contractual relationship so as to ensure that data ownership and access rights are agreed at the beginning of the process, and that any subsequent usage of the data that is created by shipboard equipment is based on the principle of informed consent between both parties. The Smart Maritime Council’s best practice recommendations establish three main pillars of maritime data ownership and access. To briefly summarize, these pillars state that: the data produced by shipboard equipment belongs to the equipment owner and that ownership conveys certain rights; equipment manufacturers should not place unreasonable limitations on access to that data; and manufacturers should, where necessary, provide access to the codebooks that define digital signals to allow for data processing.
Additional recommendations relating to issues such as the storage of historical data, transfer of ownership, and liability in case of vessel incidents involving shipboard equipment, which derive from or are relevant to the practical application of these three pillars, are also included in the list. In particular, the inclusion of data as its own asset class in sale and purchase agreements for vessels (or in the transfer of vessel management from one ship manager to another) was identified as an area lacking any established industry best practices. As such, it is important that parties to such agreements make explicit provision for the transfer of required historical data sets within their contracts, as the transfer of those datasets cannot be presumed to be linked to the transfer of the vessel itself.
Data Is The New Oil
Similarly, parties relevant to the storage of the datasets in question should be identified within contract discussions – is the data stored with a cloud hosting service, or within servers owned by a software provider? All of these issues can have a significant impact on a new owner or manager’s ability to optimize the operations of a vessel, and as such are too important to be left without explicit agreement. The quote that ‘data is the new oil’ has been repeated enough to become cliché, but no matter what value can be created from shipboard data, it is only achievable if that data is accessible and capable of being shared with partners offering the analytics tools needed to refine that data into actionable insight. The data belongs to you – the value you create depends on your ingenuity, choice of partners, and ability to spot the opportunities that come with it.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe
Source: Lloyd’s Register
