According to the World Economic Forum, an estimated 90% of the world’s goods are transported by sea, making the shipping industry vital to the world’s economy. Operating at sea is hazardous and incidents at sea can result in inefficiency, injuries and environmental damage. Industry leading companies recognised that collective incident data reporting, sharing, and analysis could help reduce the number of incidents and improve commercial efficiency. However, to do this effectively, the industry would need to collaborate and have tools for collecting, sharing and managing data.
In response to this, in 2014, Shell, Maersk, and Lloyds Register Consulting established a joint venture, HiLo, with the remit to enhance industry safety through data analysis.
HiLo developed a risk management tool which uses aggregated data about previous incidents and near-misses, to predict the risk of future serious incidents so firms can take mitigating action. HiLo acts as a trusted intermediary between the shipping companies by overseeing collation, management, and governance of the shared data.
HiLo demonstrates how data sharing can be managed between competing companies for the commercial benefit of all.