Inmarsat: ’The opportunity to transform is fantastic’

Shipping is entering an exciting, potentially transformative era over the coming decade, reckons Ben Palmer, the president of Inmarsat Maritime. The question he has though is whether the industry will be able to grab all the opportunities out there, or will its conservative, fragmented nature hold it back?

“The fundamental shipping business model has not changed since the 18th century,” Palmer tells Maritime CEO. “Over the last 50 years, ships have got tatter, faster and longer but they still look pretty much like they did after World War II.”

With connectivity growing exponentially, ships and their operations are set for change, Palmer says. This started with crew welfare, and is now moving towards “office-like” connectedness.

“There’s a huge amount off tech innovation going on too. The opportunity to transform is fantastic,” Palmer says touching on decarbonisation, the cloud, artificial intelligence, and big data.

“Ships can be less manpower intensive with more monitoring and all kinds of applications,” he says, while cautioning: “I do have a concern. There is clearly a huge opportunity, lots of drivers to do this, but will shipping have the gumption, the ambition to do this? Shipping has historically not been the earliest adopter, so I would say the jury is still out.”

The absence of really muscular standardisation and regulation will be a brake on progress

Palmer insists today’s more forward thinking players are seeing the business case for tech-enabled ships, others in this fragmented business less so.

“I see a lot more doing, but there’s still a lot of talking,” Palmer says.

Palmer became president of Inmarsat Maritime in late 2021, moving across from defence contractor Northrop Grumman. Maritime featured in his career earlier on with BAE Systems, which was his first posting in the private sector having started his career with the UK’s Ministry of Defence.

Palmer sees shipping’s appetite for innovation as weakened by fragmentation – whether by geography, scale, or flag – as well as its relatively under regulated nature.

“The absence of really muscular standardisation and regulation will be a brake on progress,” he says.

The other issue that needs addressing if shipping is to make genuine tech strides in the coming decade surrounds recruitment.

“The industry has an interesting challenge – attracting people to it, young people, tech savvy people at sea and on shore,” Palmer says.

Different skillsets will be required by shipping’s next generation. The next generation want to believe in what they are doing, to work for a sustainable business and to use tech, Palmer says.

“Shipping has to get better at telling its story. The fierce war for talent is visceral,” Palmer concludes.