Sunil Kapoor on why technology is changing the balance in shipping.
When we acquired our vessel, several shipmanagement companies approached us. Nearly every conversation began in the same way:
“Let me show you our platform.”
Dashboards. Procurement systems. Performance monitoring. Everything looked impressive on the screen. But most of this technology was no longer exclusive to the shipmanager. The same tools—and often the same specialists—are available directly and many times at a very reasonable cost.
It raised a more interesting question. Does a small owner still need a large organisation around him, or simply the freedom to build the support he needs?
Shipping may be coming full circle
In the 1970s and 1980s, there were many small owners, particularly in Greece, northern Europe and Japan. They knew their ships, their Masters and their Chief Engineers. They remained close to the operation, and decisions were often personal and quick.
One incident from that period has stayed with me. A vessel was waiting off South Africa when instructions arrived to proceed to Saldanha Bay for loading. There was one problem. The rose boxes inside the ballastable cargo hold were completely choked. The ballast water could not be discharged. Portable pumps were arranged. But as the water level fell, the vessel began rolling with the hold partly filled. The crew became concerned about the free-surface and sloshing effects and stopped the pumps. The loading window was closing. The normal arrangements would take too long. The owner hired a helicopter, put a diver aboard and flew him directly to the vessel. The diver entered the hold and cleared the choked rose boxes. The remaining ballast was discharged, and the vessel loaded without losing a day. It was unconventional and expensive. It was also considerably cheaper than missing the cargo.
The owner did not know how to clear the rose boxes himself. He did not need to. He understood the consequence, found the right specialist and authorised the solution. That kind of direct and decisive ownership was once common in shipping.
But ships became more complicated. Regulations increased. Crewing became international. Owners needed safety-management systems, compliance departments, purchasing networks and worldwide technical support.
Then came the era of third-party shipmanagement. For many owners, handing the vessel to a professional manager was the sensible answer. It provided access to people, systems and expertise that a small owner could no longer maintain alone. That model will not disappear. Good managers remain essential. But the conditions that made the small owner dependent on a large organisation are changing.
Vessel data, voyage optimisation, procurement platforms, compliance advice and remote technical monitoring are now available directly. Equipment manufacturers can assess machinery performance from thousands of miles away. Independent specialists can be brought in for a particular problem without becoming permanent overheads.
Artificial intelligence will certainly bring a lot of changes. But the bigger change is that expertise has become much easier to reach.
A small owner can now build a lean network around his vessel. He can select the right provider for each requirement and outsource individual services as required.
Opportunity knocks
A friend who runs a chartering company fixed a vessel to load a cargo connected with a country attracting increased sanctions scrutiny.
The meaning and application of sanctions are changing almost daily. A country, port or cargo considered unacceptable one month may be permitted the next. Humanitarian cargoes also continue to move lawfully to countries subject to sanctions. Every case must therefore be examined on its own facts.
In this case, full due diligence had been completed. The necessary legal and compliance clearances were in place. There was no prohibition against carrying the cargo. The management company nevertheless did not want to proceed. It was concerned about its reputation and pushed its staff towards a blanket refusal. The owner examined the facts and reached a different conclusion. He decided to take the management of the vessel in-house. The vessel sailed and eventually loaded the cargo.
No regulations were bypassed. No sanctions were breached. What made the difference was the willingness to examine the facts, rely on specialist advice and make the decision.
Ownership is not about knowing everything. It is about remaining close enough to the vessel to understand what matters—and having access to the right people when a decision must be made. The new small owner is therefore not the old owner trying to do everything himself. He may have only a couple of ships and a small core team. But he can see more, reach expertise faster and remain directly involved without carrying out a large organisation.
Shipping’s next era will bring new fuels, tighter regulations, fractured trade routes and difficult capital decisions. There will be no shortage of data, reports or polished presentations.
The shortage will be of people willing to make the call. The small shipowner may be coming back. This time, with better tools.
