With nearly 91,000 vessels, the global maritime industry crosses social, economic and geographic frontiers, but it has not yet crossed the data boundary by embracing big data. With connectivity options and speeds improving, ships are beginning to join a data revolution that promises efficiency and cost savings. However, the question remains: what will be the trigger to push the majority of maritime into the digital age?

Frank Coles, CEO of Transas, a provider of specialty IT systems for the shipping industry, neatly summarizes the impact of big data on the global maritime industry: “Big data is all of the data that we are now collecting off of a ship,” Coles said. “Smart data is the ability to sift through that data and get to a place where we can use it in a clever way for analytics.”

It’s an important distinction, especially in an industry widely considered to be conservative in its adoption of new technologies and even further behind in analyzing data to make ship operations more efficient and cost-effective. Thought leaders like Coles intend to change that.

“They are still issuing paper ‘noon’ reports,” Coles said, referring to the tradition of ships reporting to their home offices at noon each day. “The master (ship’s captain) is still bogged down in a plethora of paperwork which should be automated. We need to change attitudes. I think when the next generation (of mariners) gets more involved in owning ships, that will be the drive for change because they come from a different mindset.”