Overview:
With Internet of Things (IoT) gaining rapid traction across residential, industrial and healthcare sectors, maritime industry is set to emerge as the next big application of the concept. According Ericsson AB, more than 2 Bn objects (excluding smartphones) are expected to be connected using cellular technology by 2025. This includes connected vehicles, robotics, agricultural fields & equipment and shipping containers. IoT in marine industry is believed to dramatically improve overall transport and logistics, enhance onboard safety and significantly reduce operational costs. Marine sector is capable of generating huge amount of data including weather, voyage, maintenance, location of assets, machinery and status of cargo. Similar to other verticals, marine IoT is based on a network of sensors and connected devices communicating based on satellite network or onboard 3G/4G LTE network.
One of the most prominent factors expected to drive the marine IoT market growth is rapidly growing adoption of IoT across different verticals. Various industry verticals (including industrial manufacturing, healthcare, transportation) as well as companies are inclined towards adopting IoT solutions with an aim of boosting their productivity and convenience. For instance, in September 2017, NYK Group announced to enter in partnership with Norway-based digital platform vendor Dualog SA to develop IoT platform for ships. The two companies, in collaboration with NTT Group, are focused on collecting data from a network of sensors and monitoring equipment onboard vessels for further enhancing operations. Similarly, in October 2017, a consortium of companies including ExactEarth Europe Ltd., Pole Star Space Applications, UK Satellite Applications Catapult, OceanWise and TeamSurv completed the demonstration of new maritime IoT platform. The consortium was led by ExactEarth Europe Ltd.
Another prominent factor contributing to market growth is significant fuel saving offered by using IoT solutions for route optimization. Marine IoT enables live tracking of a ship with minimal errors as compared to conventional high frequency radio communication and transmits the same to other ships as well as offshore offices. This helps optimizing speed and reduce unnecessary longer routes, thereby achieving optimum fuel efficiency. As fuel contributes to the largest share of a ship’s total operating costs (over 2/3rd), marine IoT is expected to witness robust adoption for route optimization application.
The global Marine IoT Market is segmented on the following basis:
Key Players Identified in Marine IoT Market include but are not limited to:
Cisco Systems, Inc., NTT Group, Accenture Plc., Ericsson AB, Vodafone Group Plc. (in partnership with Siren Marine, LLC), Wartsila Oyj Abp, Dualog AS, Wilhelmsen Holding ASA, Orange Business Services and several others. One of the major strategies observed in the market is focus on providing customized IoT solutions to shipping companies. This is primarily due to varied requirement of operation management and asset tracking across cargo ships, passenger ships, naval vessels and special purpose vessels.
