Seaspan to use GL HullManager for entire fleet

MARCH 1, 2013 — Container shipping giant Seaspan Ship Management Ltd., Vancouver, has chosen Germanischer Lloyd’s GL HullManager system to upgrade its in-house hull integrity management system. The condition based monitoring software will be implemented across Seaspan’s entire fleet of 76 vessels over the next several years.

“We developed our own temporary hull structure monitoring system at Seaspan in order to help us understand our needs and to quickly help us manage hull defects until we could assess and decided on our preferred system,” says Peter Jackson, Director of the Projects and Technology Department at Seaspan Ship Management Ltd. “Three different systems were reviewed and as a result, GL HullManager was selected as the software most closely meeting our needs.”

GL HullManager is a part of GL’s fleet management software portfolio and provides ship owners, managers and operators hull inspection and thickness measurement support. It supports the complete hull integrity process, from inspections to reporting and condition assessments of tanks, cargo holds and coatings, throughout its entire lifecycle by means of crew inspections and thickness measurements.

The use of a vessel-specific 3D model enables visualization and assessment of the hull’s structural condition. The crew can mark any coating or structural failures on the 3D model, such as marking an individual finding or adding a photo and descriptions, which can then be assessed by superintendents onshore.

“Owners are looking for ways to optimize their maintenance schemes and GL HullManager enables them to spot potential problems early on, minimize their operational down time, and smooth inspections through improving and standardizing their documentation,” says Dr. Torsten Büssow, Head of GL’s Maritime Software business.

“Clients are finding that the system is one that they can easily integrate into their existing maintenance processes, with the added benefit of on- and offshore teams having access to the same data,” says Ryan Bishop, GL’s Vice President Business Development for the Americas. “With the training we can provide from local offices, we are confident that this partnership with Seaspan will see them roll out GL HullManager without a hitch.”

GL HullManager can make information on the condition of hull structures available to any employee across the company once the inspection results have been approved and synchronized. Stored in a lifecycle database, hull condition data for each individual vessel can be traced over time. Sister vessels from the same fleet can be compared easily. A dashboard overview of the entire ship makes it easy to pinpoint any critical findings by crew or third-party inspectors.

Since its introduction onto the market in 2011, GL HullManager has built a user community of some 350 vessels of all kinds worldwide. The system was recently upgraded with a mobile client version for use in compartments and upcoming extra features in development include an automatic proposal for the amount of steel to be replaced for a dry dock tender specification, integration of hatch cover tightness measurement results and hot spot marking functionality.