Considering a slimming regime to counter the transport sector's bureaucratic complexity
 There was a recent exchange from an expert who suggested that bureaucratic complexity in the West had become so obese that it was impossible to reform. Firing a functionaire for cause had become a practical impossibility because of the litigation involved.
In a TikToky news flash from the British podcast "Trigonometry" this expert with that knowing voice that marks the breed, posited that we had reached something of a Fourth Industrial Revolution, a life beyond the old polarities of right and left, socialism and capitalism. Such things no longer applied. It seemed as obvious to him as it is to the World Economic Forum, from whence all such wisdom flows. So it was only recognising the obvious.
Recalling the news flash, one was left with the lingering feeling that the expert's brave new world would look a lot more like socialism than free market capitalism it was to replace. That's because sweeping social reforms take a great deal of organising that requires social control, which means state supervision.
What brought this to mind was an article published in Fort Lauderdale's Maritime Executive as a press release, describing the virtues of DA-Desk that addresses the bureaucratic complexities in shipping ashore and afloat.
After ventilating various typical bureaucratic hassles that ensnare waterfront executives, DA-Desk tells all of how it already has a great track record unravelling bill payment problems. And from there, it extols the wonders it would bring about for new clients in the realm of cyber security that is a growing threat to maritime business on all levels.
Wikipedia style, the firm describes itself as a global leader in disbursement accounts and payments for the maritime industry. From agent appointment to voyage closing, from managing payments to maintaining regulatory maritime compliance, DA-Desk "offers an end-to-end digitised service to help reduce the stress of port cost management".
One recognises that the world has grown more complex and that we are far from the day when most legal problems would be adjudicated by the desk sergeant at a police station or a Justice of the Peace. But the question today is whether we should accept ever greater complexity as the inevitable way forward, or begin to take steps to reverse it.
If one allows things to drift without objection, one must accept greater accommodation of costs in coping with not only increasingly trivial problems, but the multiplication of those problems. And what seems trivial now, may become unbelievably important later. What was taken a winning joke headline in a New York Magazine contest 40 years ago - "China breeds sexless worker babies" - is now credible today as a social justice goal in an age of transgenderism.
To restrict free speech might not penalties be imposed for causing hurt feelings, it might even become a misdemeanour to even raise one's voice in objection, or express a politically incorrect opinion. Or forget a birthday? The Western world is definitely heading that way.
Thus, one can see the value in outfits like DA-Desk in helping clients navigate through the slalom of life. Telling them how to avoid the ever-multiplying red flags one may topple while schussing down many a slippery bureaucratic slope trying to run one's business the way one has always done yet realising one can do that no longer - without professional help.
More prosaically, DA-Desk, extolling itself, says it "integrates directly with your existing Voyage Management System (VMS) to elevate your disbursement account process to help you work faster and smarter."
Not surprisingly, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 heightens the fear and hence the need to take action and devote for resources to "widespread cybercrime and cyber insecurity" as both short-term and long-term global risks.
Indeed, cybersecurity, particularly within the anti-financial crime compliance landscape, is becoming more complex due to advancements in technology, as well as evolving regulations and jurisdictions, says DA Desk.
It contends that with the international nature of the maritime world, more shipping companies are now finding themselves vulnerable to cybercrime, with financial risks, such as phishing and money laundering scams. Most rank AFC compliance as a top concern, says DA Desk, with four key areas of concern including scams changing remittance details, maintaining confidentiality, sanctions compliance and fraud prevention.
Given the large amount of sensitive financial transactions involved in shipping disbursement systems, the potential impact of cyber threats and non-compliance on cost efficiency, operational disruption and reputational damage is detrimental. Ensuring the security and confidentiality of data is paramount to prevent unauthorised access, data risk and identity theft.
"In a recent case study, a fraudulent message with a slightly different email address to the registered user was spotted when managing a port call payment. Their AFC team took immediate action to verify the identity of the sender, thus confirming the fraudulent action. They alerted the concerned customer to prevent further fraud and prevented the potential loss of more than US$25,000," says DA-Desk.
"Having the Right Resources for Cybersecurity and Compliance Checks Compliance with IMO’s guidelines on maritime cybersecurity and financial reporting standards requires shipping companies to implement robust cybersecurity controls, maintain accurate financial records and report suspicious activities to regulatory authorities. Non-compliance with regulatory requirements can result in financial penalties, legal liabilities and reputational damage for shipping companies.
"The time and manpower involved to continuously monitor every aspect of a port call, including every appointment, every pro forma disbursement account (PDA) and every final disbursement account (FDA), are understandably not something that shipping companies can handle themselves. What if the time involved in keeping information up to date with potentially hundreds to thousands of agents and counterparties around the world could be freed up to focus on driving the business forward?" it says.
Digital solutions are looking to streamline the process for shipping companies and reduce the risk of financial cybercrimes. For example, DA-Desk says it enables companies to automate and streamline due diligence, mitigate the risk of fraud and provide evidence of regulatory compliance, supported by a team of experts monitoring global trading and regulatory developments.
"Moreover, with a database that supports more than 200,000 port calls per year, DA-Desk continues to evolve to changing cyber threats, enabling the system to highlight ongoing financial risks more efficiently. Crucially, given the sensitive nature of online financial transactions and related data, digital solutions offer a greater degree of confidence and security for shipowners and managers to ensure the risk of cybercrime is mitigated and AFC compliance ensured," said the DA-Desk statement.
One might ask of oneself when whether taking on an outfit like DA-Desk is wrongfully outsourcing one's due diligence. Perhaps not in a company's present state, which may well justify such expert counsel as one might need a lawyer on occasion, because of particular events that have occurred. And then only as a temporary measure to remedy a specific failing that is expected to be eliminated as remedial action takes effect.
But longer term, would it not be better address - and question the need for the complexities that require such consultancies - and take steps to reduce them? One can reflect on the camera sold to consumers for the last 100 years as an example. It, in each iteration, combined more functions in fewer moves. In shipping, this should be the aim and a practice urged upon the producers of needless red tape. |
