Op-Ed: Digital shipping needs more than software sales

Duncan Wyse

Owners and operators are recognizing the need for real world expertise in solutions that promise tangible efficiency gains via voyage optimization, says Duncan Wyse, head of growth, Americas, at Coach Solutions

The appetite for voyage optimization solutions has matured in the last few years, as the realities of tighter regulation and the need for efficiency and compliance have driven demand for fuel savings.

Innovation has also seen approaches evolve dramatically, from being defined by limited options and functionality to full service data-driven solutions.

The trend is strongly towards products whose methodology is rooted in the principles of naval architecture and away from feature-led software that provides a more superficial approach.

Rather than rely purely on add-on weather and oceanography data, vessel operators need data-rich solutions which can be embedded into their fleet operations.

More than ever, vessel operators need to translate operational data into genuine efficiency gains and be able to benchmark against expected performance parameters. Software vendors who can provide an on-demand team of naval architects and engineers are at the forefront of driving sustainable shipping through technology.

The needs of the market in the United States are also distinct from other regions. The Jones Act aside, the nature of the industry means that organizations can operate diverse fleets of owned and chartered vessels from large tankers and bulkers to offshore support vessels.

The ability to unify data gathering and reporting to support performance optimization across a diversified fleet with a single solution is now a reality.

As the market matures from a weather routing-led approach to deeper integration into voyage performance and optimization there are a limited number of providers able to offer products that tick all these boxes.

Part of the reason this approach is appealing is because of the shift in emphasis between roles onboard and ashore. Owners have choices; whether to collect small amounts of key data manually or gather larger volumes of high frequency sensor data which can be used in conjunction with complex digital twins to create accurate predictions of performance.

The importance of voyage optimization and vessel performance also mean that providers can no longer sell software, provide some training and leave the user to get on with it. Creating consistent and accurate results means solutions must become fully integrated in the chartering and operations teams.

For the owner or operator, the results are there to provide decision support, such tools can contribute to optimizing operations but ultimately, sustainability is in the hands of the user. Owners can adjust their route and speed to minimize fuel consumption—or not—but at a minimum they know their options.

Too many optimization solutions in the market claim they can save fuel savings of 10-15% per voyage, but there’s no way of judging whether these claims have any value because we can’t know what any of them is being compared to.

We have seen evidence of this first hand, where systems are evaluated side by side and it is possible to compare voyage performance outcomes on a like-for-like basis. This is rarely a deliberate attempt to confuse; it’s more often down to over-optimistic sea trial data.

The new levels of sophistication and complexity demanded by the rapidly changing business environment necessitate honesty from the vendor when their capabilities are assessed. Are they estimating predicted efficiency gains or demonstrating them with tangible, verifiable data?

Optimization software plays a crucial role by giving users the clarity to navigate the many and often conflicting drivers and restrictions around daily vessel operations. There will always be inertia to change but for a diverse fleet, largely populated by tramp vessels, a naval architecture-led approach to voyage optimization will always provide higher quality results.