Meeting the need for big data talents in the Singapore maritime industry

• Main Author: Ho, Min Hua
• Other Authors: Chew Ah Seng, David
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Maritime studies
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/74758
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

According to a survey conducted last year, it was found that the Singapore maritime industry is facing a shortage of Big Data (BD) talents which is impeding BD applications in the Singapore maritime industry. Although there are some researches conducted on this issue, there is minimal or no research done for the specific sectors of the Singapore maritime industry such as the ports, shipping companies and the maritime services. As ports and shipping companies generally attract more attention in their BD implementation efforts, research focusing on maritime services tend to be more neglected. Hence, this research paper aims to explore and find out the implementation status of BD in the Singapore maritime services sector as well as the extent and causes of BD talent shortages in the Singapore maritime services sector and propose solutions for them to meet their needs for BD talents. In the process of investigating the reasons and extent of BD talent shortages and, implementation status of BD in the Singapore maritime services sector, secondary research is performed to gather and understand the current available information on the implementation status and lack of BD talent in the Singapore maritime services sector. Then primary research such as surveys and interviews will be carried out to collect more opinions, views and information from the stakeholders in that sector. Our survey findings found that three quarters of the Singapore maritime services sector’s companies have plans for BD implementation. From the interview, it can also be concluded that there is a general rise in demand for BD talents and the reasons for the shortage of BD talents could be due to the lack of attractiveness and attention given to the industry and sector as well as the presence of a limited number of BD talents. Based on the demand and supply factors of BD talents elaborated further in the paper, the extent of the shortage can be deduced to remain severe in the relatively near future. With these, this paper has proposed some recommendations at an individual maritime services company level to cope with the BD shortage as well as at the community level, whereby collaborative efforts between maritime services organisations and IT firms, maritime services organisations and educational institutes and, maritime services organisations and research institutes can be considered. Recommended efforts on the parts of educational institutes and startups to improve the supply of BD talent or the BD aid provided are also presented. In addition, efforts at the governmental or shipping associations level to provide more financial aid and raise awareness of the industry are proposed. Also, collaboration between companies at an international supply chain level to help stakeholders in the Singapore maritime services sector is suggested to cope with the insufficient BD talents that is prevalent in the Singapore maritime services sector.