The Wavemakers Podcast

Beyond the Horizon: Capt. Mohit Batra on Tech, Safety & the Heart of Maritime

• BetterSea • Season 2 • Episode 6

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In this episode of The Wavemakers Podcast, Gordana sits down with Captain Mohit Betra, a true catalyst in the maritime industry. 

From his early days at sea, influenced by a family of sailors, to driving digital transformation, Captain Mohit shares his unique perspective on the evolution of shipping in the past decades. They dive into the challenges and opportunities of digitalization, the rise of AI and automation, and the growing need for smart data over data overload in maritime operations. He also reflects on the industry's slow but steady adaptation to decarbonization, the importance of safety in an era of alternative fuels, and how shifting regulations impact seafarers.

 Follow Capt Mohit Batra on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/captmohitbatra/

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🔗 Related Resources and Links:
• Follow Gordana Ilic on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gordanailicphd/
• Follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BetterSea

📩 Have questions or comments? Feel free to reach out via email at gordana.ilic@bettersea.tech

[Music] Hello and welcome to another episode of The Wavemakers Podcast where we feature the stories of the people driving the change in the martime industry. Today's guest is a true martime catalyst. He's also an entrepreneur a writer and a super-connector. Please welcome my guest, Captain Mohit Batra 
Thank you for having me I know we've been planning this for a while finally by coincidence our uh schedules have synced so once again have thank you for having me here. Yes, we were very adventurous and I think that also speaks so much about your character that you just see yeah. And in your own words, how would you describe yourself and your journey into shipping? My journey into shipping is not by coincident. I come from a family of sailors so by default that was one of the natural choices that I had to join shipping although my parents were against it. I think too many people in shipping especially my mom didn't want me to join, but as I said it was a default choice for me. So once I landed here, spent my 12 years at sea, did my MBA came ashore. I think if you ask the industry uh probably they will describe describe me as a a networker, a people's person I think I have the gift to form connections and I've always felt that it's good to give back to the industry, so I'm always probably first in line if somebody needs my help and then I think things flow from there, that when I need help people are around me yes I can relate to some some of that especially focusing on the people and and I do think that this industry has such a big heart overall. And how would you describe yourself if you were a vessel? Which vessel would you be and why? That's a tough one but um although my sailing career spanned on tankers I think I'd probably be a container ship full of different boxes. I think I've got a very complex personality and even more complex mind and I've got all these boxes in my mind and they are churning a different speeds different times thinking a lot of things so I probably would describe myself as a container vessel. A very large container vessel. Which routs would you take oh um that's again, I think I would probably be on a Europe Asia trade um I've lived in Europe I've lived in Asia I've lived in China I've lived in Singapore I've lived in India I've lived in the UK um I've always felt when I came a show that the growth was in Asia and it's time for Asia so I love Asia being an Asian person. I think I'm in love with Asia so I, I really would be on an Asian Europe route I've never fancied the US part of the world although I like to go there for visits and I worked for an American company but I never saw myself settling down on that side I think cultural differences and um being comfortable where you are knowing the people knowing the culture understanding it makes a difference. Speaking about cultures, now you mentioned that you have experienced quite a bit of them, how do you see the culture of the maritime industry changing especially in this new age of digital transformation and decarbonization? Umm very interesting because I was actually thinking that you going to ask me this question um I've been part of digitalization, having led um companies that
were offering digital solutions twice... I think... One is that the maritime industry has been way behind in adopting technology uh but also the understanding of what the technology is going to achieve. I think I started first in the year

2011 marketing digital solutions and I had this realization that people didn't understand what digitalization meant. Initially it was putting everything electronically transferring everything into electronic format meant digitalization um I think digitalization has more deeper meaning and there has to be an outcome of what you're going what you're trying to achieve before you set out on the Journey of digitalization. I found a lot of companies were doing it because the next company was doing it so it was um in uh quote monkey see monkey do terms uh so people were just trying to compete with each other rather than reach a proper outcome of how their operations could be more efficient with with the digitalization uh technology always has its positives and has its own drawbacks I think uh we were talking about that earlier that the more technology we are uh embracing sometimes it has it comes with its own drawbacks. Having said that I think the... the focus in maritime again it's people know people have started realizing the outcome but there is still a need to filter, because when we talk about big data I think people misunderstand big data is let's collect every data you know everything can be useful let's collect heaps and heaps of data and I think we are headed towards a data overload. The the key focus should be on smart data and how to filter it and how to process it for an outcome uh just because there's a lack of understanding you also see there's so many companies now offering digital solutions. Everybody trying to copy each other there's no differentiation of what they're offering and there's not a single company offering the complete package of what digitalization should be. There's bits and pieces so you still need two or three um softwares to actually reach where you want to arrive perhaps some of that is also the approach to now implementing AI yes yeah again AI whether you talk about autonomous vessels and uh whatnot um we are moving at a very fast space towards that and um without realizing the impact it's had it's having on people. I mean shipping is a very complex profession or industry in its own and although the shipping carries 90% of the word trade we don't realize the people, the seafarers on board, are facing so much pressure because their new regulations coming out every day and the workload is 
increasing, but the the the number of personal on board is decreasing. So there's always  a lot of pressure, sometimes misguided frustrations that the people have to face and I used to... In my speaking assignments, I used to always end with a joke that we will start reducing the number of people until we have an autonomous vessel where there's one person and one dog. The person is there to make sure nothing goes wrong and the dog is there to make sure the person doesn't touch anything. 

Oh wow and you work very closely with people also through your company and safety is a big word in the industry and it is so close to what you do and especially when we speak about decarbonization, safety has a very strong accent because of the risk of all these different fuels. Do you have any insights on how people who are there on the vessels feel about this and that future for them? I think safety plays an important role in whatever we do it's not just restricted to shipping but it plays a highly important role in shipping because the people working on ships are away from families, friends they're isolated and there's always somebody waiting for them if something happens um it's it's a big disaster it's a big heartbreak for the people waiting for them back at home and as I was telling you shipping is very um complex and and the workload on people has become so much because it's not just carrying cargo from one place to another the port operations the navigation then there safety there security, risk of being attacked uh especially in today's... current political environment um different geographies um and crew... Multicultural crew on board um and then you start getting the new regulations like ballast water and emissions and what not; so I think people need to pay special attention to their tasks, to be safe. Safety is not just a process it's a mindset it's a way of life that whatever you start doing you make sure you're safe and ensure Safety. Not Just of yourself but for the property and the people around you. And how do the people feel about you handling different fuels... I think there's still... People are divided um um when it comes to different fuels that are being introduced whether it's ammonia whether it's methanol whether it's gas or the hybrid model of batteries versus traditional fuel... There's still a lot of experimentation going on in the industry and it would be unfair of me to put my view down right now, because as I said, I keep hearing different people different views...
 probably not made up my mind but I think we are heading towards the right direction where we're trying to protect the environment.  there's a lot of pressure on companies and on the people on board or even the people ashore, we just have to wait and watch. Then we will taking it to a bit lighter course. What is about shipping that you love the most? I think it's the people. I've been assure longer than my sailing career. I spent 12 years at se and I came asore in 2014 so it's been now 20 years uh sorry 2004 so it's been 20 years ashore When I was sailing I always felt um that I was isolated you know with the same 25-30 people on board, when I came ashore all my friends were busy because they were working I was completely free, so I used to just take off backpacking on my own, spend time in, again, in isolation but I used to enjoy meeting people. That's why I love to travel.When I came ashore luckily I've been blessed that I had jobs which were more on the sales, marketing, meeting people traveling... Although I thought when I come ashore I'll have my feet grounded I've always had jobs which kept me traveling so there were even times when I was uh not home for two, three weeks in a month That's how much travel it was. The only difference was I was not traveling by sea I was traveling by air. And then somehow the world became the home again. Exactly. So I think COVID in some sense it was a blessing if I want to say, that it gave me time to finally ground myself. There was no travel for 2 years 3 years and uh now that I've got back to traveling and everything um I realize I still love traveling uh but I hate the time spent on an aircraft I think that's completely waste because the more focused you get towards work you start realizing every minute counts towards productivity and I see people on on their laptops on a plane and you know still working away I could never do that I I I cannot focus when I'm on a plane so I either watch a movie or I'll try and get some sleep I to sleep or I just observed the Sky if I can uhhuh and I always think how if we just knew this life above the sky we would never think that there's so much happening below it and once I know we were flying from Copenhagen and the sky was so packed with clouds and below was so dark and gloomy and then above it looked like snow covering everything and that gives a very good perspective of life I think and absolutely and in today's busy schedules you need some time just for yourself you know either you're with your family either or you're with friends or you're working so I find it the time on plane, although wasteful, it gives me some me time where I can just have some time alone with my thoughts and as you said I do stay down the window at times as well and um I often click videos of you know flying through the clouds or when we are near the ground uh it's a different perspective when you see it from Top especially when I land into Singapore every time the the sea of vessels and anchorage... it's for me it's that's a beautiful site you know? I I get to see all these vessels uh different kind of vessels and realize how busy a port Singapore is um at the same time uh recently if you see my recent LinkedIn post I think I've also started realizing that we are moving away from Nature by being stuck on our phones on our computers and I posted two three photographs of sunsets that I recently experienced and it was so calming it was so beautiful that I had to share it even with my professional network I don't usually post photographs on LinkedIn that are not uh related to work but I thought it was time that people also realize to be more appreciative towards life towards nature towards taking time off just a short reminder on the feed that it's okay to just stop and you also shared a video of your daughter yes paddling which I I was very happy to see that when it came about and you said that you were also proud that she's developing the love for waters in her own way and her own experience and do you think that she too would dip her feet into shipping as well? um Look I've always believe that women um are are very powerful force um as such that's what I've been bought up uh to understand through my you know childhood and my marriage to a very strong woman and having two daughters so I actually worship the female um strength I think females are a form of strength uh even in Indian um culture we believe uh woman is shakti. Shakti means strength. I was very happy I mean I I took my my daughter is a teen my elder daughter is a teenager now she's going to be 17 very soon and as a typical teenager she stopped spending much time with us you know she's more onto her own she's a very dedicated focused girl into her studies into her friends uh we barely see her out of her room maybe we have to switch off the Wi-Fi sometimes when we want to talk to her um but Jokes Aside she agreed to come to the beach one of uh one of the recent weekends that we went to the beach and I bought a paddle board and it was something that we wanted to try so we bought a paddle board and my friends came with their paddle board and she took off on one of the paddle boards without any training without any um coaching and she picked it up very naturally and after a while my wife was like where is she you know we couldn't see her because she had gone out quite far into the sea so I took the paddle board and I went and as soon as I saw her she was lying down relaxed in her own element out at sea and I I switched on the video and then I shouted her name she got up it was very dramatic that's why I had to um impose the music on that video because I didn't want people to hear my voice but she picked it up like a natural uh you know it made me feel very proud and that's where my post read a captain's daughter you know seeing her there I felt she was in a very natural habitat but uh to say whether she will dip her toes in shipping or not I think I will leave it that to her personal choice I've always encouraged her to do what she wants and right now her focus is towards uh becoming uh it's too early but her her aim and that's what I find very uh attractive about the next generation is they're very focused they know what they want she wants to be a criminal forensic psychologist oh wow that is very interesting now I wish I talk to her as well maybe the next podcast but uh start a different podcast but honestly when I started my career there was no focus and I see people today even in shipping whether they're into operations whether they're into chartering whether they're into any other part of aspect of shipping they're very focused I think an advantage that I got by not being focused is I got to see the industry from different sides I worked for a a consultancy company I've worked for a class Society I worked for an engine manufacturer I've worked for digitalization shipping I've worked on the ship supply side so I've seen the industry from various different angles and I think that's given me a very broad perspective um and as soon as I came a shower and became a peoples person I also understood the importance of having a strategy in Life or in business so uh with that having different views I think opens up your mind to different strategies rather than being very uh narrow-minded minded uh it opens up and sometimes you start thinking out of the box you start uh looking at results or solutions that you would not ordinary look at if you just thinking in a oneway street if if I may say so I can very much relate to that um that was my journey although I I thought I had some sort of a plan I had big big pictures in my life of what I would like to achieve and somehow the plan to get there that I took never really worked out immediately like that but I was open and receptive and curious but then now when I reflect I actually managed to reach all these Milestones just my path was a bit different and somehow people were recognizing that I'm able to perhaps identify things uh from a very different industry implemented so I can very much relate to to what you were saying I I do agree and and uh I think we met by chance as well um and I know part of your journey as well uh but there's a saying like if you want something in life uh the whole circumstances or the whole environment will form um the way or guide you to the way where you're supposed to reach your destination um having said that I'm not I'm not a very religious person but I do believe in God I also am a very positive Optimist person so when things don't go my way or when I start feeling frustrated with something uh I remember what somebody once told me and they told me that uh if things happen to your liking then good but if things don't happen to your liking then it's better because somebody's got a better plan for you yes there's a reason why it doesn't happen exactly it's showing you the other direction if you're stubborn yes and knowing that today perhaps we have lesser time that than we would normally. What would be your advice to people like your daughter or younger Generations that are entering the industry how should they navigate it and what would be their mindset for it I think uh the most important thing for people to remember is um they need to um understand what they want to do as I said the Next Generation I have no doubt they're more focused than my generation so they do know what they want um I'm going to be boring like everybody else and say hard work which of course is very necessary um I also started believing that hard work uh combined with luck being at the right place at the right time makes a lot of difference and um something that my father always told me that in life it's not always necessary to do what you like you must like what you do so if you get into something you better try to be the best at what you're doing uh don't be afraid of failures um I think uh failures are the ladder to success so if you are afraid of falling down you'll never get there don't be afraid of falling down uh just get up dust yourself off that's what I could tell my daughters as well keep carrying on um being persistent what you're doing or being persistent to reach your destination um will get you there so don't give up well thank you for the conversation thank you it's always a pleasure to meet you um I don't know you for very long but it just feels I know you for quite some time now we've been chatting we've met up couple of times and uh it's always nice to nice to see you and Max thank you very and I wish you good luck with whatever you're trying to do thank you so much [Music]

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Gordana Ilic

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