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Breaking Waves 2019<br />
“We are not<br />
dinosaurs”<br />
“I am so sick and tired of hearing that<br />
we are the dinosaurs,” Erwin Verstraelen<br />
said. “If 90 percent of the global trade is<br />
maritime based, you can’t be a dinosaur.”<br />
Erwin<br />
Verstraelen is<br />
chief of digital<br />
and innovation<br />
officer of the Port<br />
of Antwerp.<br />
TEXT MICHAEL HUNT<br />
PHOTO ANTERO AALTONEN<br />
As chief digital and innovation officer of<br />
the Port of Antwerp, Erwin Verstraelen<br />
was brought onboard in 2017 to help Europe’s<br />
second-largest port solve supplychain<br />
problems with technology-driven<br />
solutions.<br />
He has a message for the maritime industry<br />
at large:<br />
“I am so sick and tired of hearing that<br />
we are the dinosaurs,” Verstraelen said.<br />
“If 90 percent of the global trade is maritime<br />
based, you can’t be a dinosaur.”<br />
That was the theme he brought to<br />
colleagues during the annual Breaking<br />
Waves seminar in Helsinki, where Verstraelen<br />
urged those in the maritime industry<br />
to expand their vision of an industry<br />
that is not nearly as primitive as some<br />
might believe.<br />
“Let’s stop pretending that we’re dinosaurs,<br />
because we’re not,” he said. “See<br />
the opportunity for what it is. Start small<br />
with committed people and it gets started.<br />
Stick out your neck.”<br />
“We have seven billion brains, four billion<br />
of them are connected. We have brilliant<br />
technology. We have ideas. They only<br />
thing is mindset. That’s the big thing, the<br />
glue to get it all together. The mindset to<br />
see all of these things coming together on<br />
the table. What is lacking? Nothing. Plus,<br />
we have the challenges that are driving us<br />
forward. Simple as that. That’s my role, to<br />
keep convincing people. Don’t stop. Do it.”<br />
Such an expanded, enlightened and<br />
progressive mindset must include data<br />
sharing, he emphasized. If 15 worldwide<br />
ports move half of the global containers,<br />
Verstraelen said it is imperative for those<br />
competitors to join forces and share information,<br />
particularly in a joint defense<br />
against cyber-security attacks.<br />
“Right now, there is a lack of trust, not<br />
wanting to share data,” Verstraelen said.<br />
“But if there is a cyber-security incident,<br />
we will share knowledge. If possible, we’ll<br />
help each other out. That’s the next level.<br />
That will continue as we gain trust among<br />
each other.”<br />
The reluctance to share data, he said,<br />
“is the big elephant in the room. Acknowledge<br />
that. For example, in exports,<br />
one of the founding principles in the data<br />
platform is you’ll always be the one who<br />
decides who has access. So, your data is<br />
in a vault and you open it up to someone,<br />
depending on your trust level. By doing<br />
that, gradually, trust increases and you<br />
open up more and more of your data.<br />
Question is, how do we create an opportunity<br />
or a solution around it?”<br />
In his mission to put the maritime industry<br />
on an upward trajectory, Verstraelen<br />
applies the four principles he has used<br />
in Antwerp to keep the port innovative.<br />
The first proved values, because he<br />
does not believe in proved concepts. “In<br />
most cases today, technology works,”<br />
Verstraelen said. “If it doesn’t work, then<br />
try again in six, 12 or 18 months because<br />
technology evolves at an exponential<br />
rate. The most dangerous thing you can<br />
do is not try it again.”<br />
Second, expand experimentation to all<br />
levels within the organization. “I do not<br />
believe in a model where it’s limited to<br />
one group,” he said. “Innovation is everywhere,<br />
but innovation is not chaos. It’s<br />
a structured process. You need to have<br />
innovation enablement, a culture where<br />
people see opportunities for change.”<br />
Third, open up the innovation platform<br />
and allow and invite outsiders with<br />
expertise to come to the port. “That pushes<br />
innovation further, it speeds it up,”<br />
Verstraelen said.<br />
And fourth, outside-in innovation.<br />
“Inside-out innovation is the more<br />
traditional approach, where a company<br />
has a challenge or a problem and goes<br />
outside to find a solution,” he said. “We<br />
believe the opposite is much more powerful,<br />
which is outside-in innovation. You<br />
surround yourself with ecosystems, with<br />
academia, with research centers, with<br />
incubators and so on that continuously<br />
inspire you with what they’re doing.”<br />
For example, Verstraelen said he noticed<br />
that drones with cameras were being<br />
used in the agriculture industry to<br />
detect crop disease. He wondered if the<br />
same technology could be used to detect<br />
oil spills.<br />
“Why? I’m the fifth largest bunkering<br />
port on the planet and I spend an amount<br />
with six zeros in it on a yearly basis to<br />
clean oil spills up,” he said. “I have a port<br />
of 120 square kilometers. The harder it is<br />
for me to see the oil spill, the more costly<br />
it is to clean up. If I have a drone that flies<br />
six times a day and night over the port<br />
with the hyperspectral camera, I would be<br />
able to spot oil spills far better. That kind<br />
of merge with technology doesn’t happen<br />
if you start going outside with your problem<br />
looking for a solution.”<br />
Bottom line, Verstraelen said, the maritime<br />
industry is not a dinosaur, and nor<br />
should it behave like one. ✖<br />
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