The recent meeting in Singapore provided an opportunity to explore the challenges and opportunities for collaboration in the maritime transport industry. In this meeting, Michel Gonzalez, Senior Vice President of Business and Operations at global mining company Vale, Linga Widastari, CEO of PT Chandra Shipping International, and Joy Chua, Head of Business Improvement at AET, shared their experiences.
Challenges of Collaboration in the Transport Industry
These three industry leaders, despite their differing businesses, discussed many common challenges in achieving successful collaboration. In the transport industry, a decision regarding leasing, operations, or finance can have widespread impacts on other sectors. Michel Gonzalez pointed out that what seems efficient for one team may be inefficient for another.
Michel further emphasized the importance of connectivity and data sharing, stating that one of the main reasons for Vale's transition to the Veson platform was to enhance connectivity and information sharing. Linga Widastari also spoke about her team's positive experiences with this platform during the rapid growth of PT Chandra Shipping. Joy Chua referred to her recent challenges with Veson's CEO, John Veson, who was prototyping a solution, stating that this is the type of innovative collaboration AET is seeking.
Key Takeaways from the Panel Discussions
Several key points were raised during this meeting: 1. Integrate data first. A shared perspective helps eliminate unnecessary back-and-forth. 2. Start with small wins; these victories make subsequent changes easier. 3. External collaborations are built on trust, so choose your partners carefully. 4. Connected teams start taking action instead of searching for answers. 5. The hardest part is not the technology, but building discipline around change.
Michel Gonzalez explained that Vale's value chain extends from the mine to the rail, from the rail to the port, from the port to the ship, and from the ship to the customer. He explained that each link has traditionally been optimized for its own purposes, and years of digitization have caused many systems to be incompatible with each other. Vale's response to this challenge has been to create a unified view of data and connect operations from the port to the customer.
Linga Widastari also mentioned PT Chandra Shipping's challenges in serving the supply chain of the Chandra Asri group as well as developing third-party businesses. She stated that her approach is to create a unified business mindset, with each journey measured based on usage, cost, and service.
Finally, Joy Chua noted that transformation in maritime teams does not require replacing 20 systems simultaneously. She stated that by integrating diverse processes into a single system, improvements in efficiency and user experience can be achieved.
