Getting to the port of gold

Congratulations to a team of College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) students who emerged as one of the champions in the MaritimeONE Digital Challenge 2022!

Team S16, comprising three Year 2 Data Science and Analytics students, A. Guhanavel KUMAR, Darryl CHAN and A Muhammed MADHIH, received the award from Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport Mr CHEE Hong Tat at a ceremony on 12 November.

Their solution – a seamless multimodal shipment route engine – allows users to identify optimum shipment routes for PSA Cargo Solutions.

Currently, intermodal shipping routes (e.g. air to sea) require users to book modes separately. S16 designed a one-stop booking application that enables users to choose different transport modes based on their requirements and without hassle. The team also developed a simple algorithm to compute and optimise cost and carbon dioxide emissions, which helps to address PSA’s decarbonisation goal.

While the team went in with the initial expectation of applying classroom knowledge to solve an industry challenge, they came away with much more.

Team lead Guhan says, “We initially thought that it was a straightforward data science problem, but we discovered the importance of interdisciplinary knowledge in coming up with a holistic solution to the problem.”

For instance, the team acquired knowledge on other domains such as computer science, design thinking and business. This knowledge enabled them to understand broad-ranging challenges including timely implementation, different transport modes, optimisation models and algorithms.

“Through the competition, we were able to appreciate the importance of decarbonisation and time optimisation and their impact on climate change. We also have a better understanding of the challenges faced by the maritime industry, such as intense competition, rapid digitalisation and productivity in the post-COVID era,” adds Guhan.

Mr Eddie NG, Head of Digital and Data Strategy, PSA International, said. “We gained fresh perspectives from the students in tackling some of the challenges faced by the industry, which will augment our continuous efforts in developing solutions for agile, resilient and sustainable supply chains.”

The competition drew over 140 students across 40 registered teams.

A mixed team, Team KAAAndle, comprising students from NTU and CHS’ Aidan ONG (Year 1, Data Science and Analytics) came in second, and ‘Team Travelling Salesmen’, also comprising CHS students, came in third.