K D Adamson, founder of Futurenautics, blasted the shipping industry today for its failure to harness technology. Adamson, speaking at a Posidonia event looking at shipping’s future, reckoned shipping will change more in the next 50 years than it has in the past 300 years.
Adamson, who describes herself as a blue futurist, suggested shipping needs to get better at using data and analytics, referencing a recent Splash report that showed the majority of analysts in South Korea had failed to spot Hanjin Shipping’s demise.
“Shipping has been using the past to predict the future,” she said.
Adamson noted that the historical link between GDP growth and shipping volumes is fast decoupling as service economies grow.
She warned that the industry is opaque, inefficient and is destroying value in its companies and failing to satisfy its customers.
Connectivity plus big data and analytics brings transparency, Adamson said, something that trailblazers like Facebook, Uber and Amazon have shown the way and shipping needs to follow.
