A data-driven passage
Written by
A growing choice of fleet management software is helping manage people, ships and their operations safely and efficiently. (Credit: Shutterstock)
Cargo Stowage and Hazard Compliance
Because cargo stowage and compliance (regulated by worldwide authorities) can be a menace to manage, shipboard software is being tailored to provide vessel operators and ship managers with technology tools to enable them to better manage such responsibilities.
For example, the German-based Navis, a leading maritime software solutions provider, will provide both hardware and software for some 20 new containerships in construction in Asian shipyards. Their technology will aid in maintaining cargo compliance and vessel performance, with an emphasis on stowage of dangerous goods in compliance with the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG), and will also help to keep operators informed, in real time, of the latest cargo securing regulations and trim optimization requirements
Singapore-based ship manager Eastern Pacific Shipping plans to utilize Navis software aboard its upcoming 15,100 TEU container vessels, now being constructed in South Korea. They’ll be using the technology to manage and control vessel stability, strength, and compliance with the IMDG stowage and segregation rules.
“In times of increasing cargo incidents onboard container vessels, rising fuel prices, and a growing call for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, ship operators look for tools to ensure more than compliance with safety regulations,” said Selke Eichler, director of global customer support at Navis. “Innovative tools should offer recommendations for the crews to optimize safety, utilization, and fuel consumption, ideally all integrated from one source.”
Environmental Compliance
All ship fleet operations managers are challenged with a growing thicket of environmental regulations at the local, national and international level. IMO requirements can be overwhelming. Software solutions aid such accountability and responsibility. Bilge water, waste oil and other effluent contents can be difficult to manage.
Such a problem is the crux of the development of software applications by the U.K.-based Thome Group that offers a mobile-based application called NAU that helps monitor the performance of an entire managed fleet. By using a mobile app, leadership and operational managers, shoreside and shipboard, may utilize the app and enter its environment module where one can check daily on accumulation of environmental waste of all types: bilge and ballast water, sludge, oily waste, contaminated effluent and many other liquid levels that are risky to even keep on board and even more risky and problematic when not discharged promptly.
The app allows management to see liquid levels and an alert may be set up to prompt them to take action and offload before the ship runs into problems with time and availability of offload resources. Benchmarks can be set and maintained.
The app includes an “Environment” module that covers daily monitoring of the accumulation and disposal of machinery space bilges and sludge on board across all managed vessels and alerts the vessel managers when there is excessive build-up beyond set benchmarks.
Thome Group’s CEO says it aligns with today’s strict policies of environmental compliance that usually established zero tolerance for marine and environmental contamination. He says the app and software application “acts as the company’s automated whistle blower, keeping the interests of the company, its ship owners and stake holders intact, acting as an early warning system to any potential risks that could lead to system failure, human errors and so on.”
Managing Training and Certifications
Shipboard competency management includes required U.S. Coast Guard, regulatory underwriting body requirements, IMO and other requirements regarding training and certifications. There are also software solutions that are not necessarily shipboard centric but may be well used for other purposes of managing the resources required to operate a vessel fleet.
One such area is shipboard training and certification. Because the maritime industry is highly regulated and requires very disciplined certifications to perform many functions, including often-mandatory appropriate training hours, it can be a daunting task to manage. This is an opportunity to put robust software technology solutions to work.
For example, Holland American Cruise Lines has some 14,000 employees dispersed across its enterprise. This includes crew members on its cruise vessels, as well as other brands under the company’s umbrella: Windstar Cruises, Gray Line and others. They utilize SumTotal Systems, a provider of learning and business performance technologies, services and processes. The software includes a unique shipboard training program for personnel at sea anywhere in the world and allows them to complete training and manages it via satellite data synchronization.
“By making training and certification easier, quicker and more efficient to access, complete and report, we are able to have employees focus on what is most important to us: providing our guests with the world-class service, amenities and programs that have been part of the Holland America Line premium travel experience for 130 years,” said Stein Kruse, president and CEO of Holland America Line, in a statement about the partnership.
Just as technology drives management best practices for Holland America, the quest to drive data never rests for Royal Caribbean and others who continue to plot the next course of their digital journey. With different software technologies, a dearth of data points can be used to predict weather, the best route and the best alternate route, while their ships blaze through the ocean with newfound efficiency.
Jim Romeo is a writer focused on business and technology topics. He is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and a retired shoreside marine engineer.
Categories: News, Technology
