EMPOWERING CREW TO TAKE DATA-DRIVEN DECISIONS

The sea routes and oceans have opened the gates to commercialization over time. Over the years, the shipping industry has evolved as a catalyst in global ecological change, calling for performance management and Decarbonization. Stringent regulations have been imposed to cut down GHG emissions. Regulations and increasing social awareness is compelling industry leaders to adopt automation, leverage connected systems and big data analytics for voyage optimization, regulatory compliance and higher vessel reliability with condition based maintenance. Maritime digitalization and connected ships with multiple features and remote functionalities continue to expand , impacting the maritime industry with optimized operations and maintenance.

Ship 4.0 is disrupting the way maritime trade was conducted through the decades. Maritime industry has the opportunity to now stand on shoulders of giants who have pioneered business transformation with digital technologies. Leveraging immense capabilities of Smart Sensors and gateway technologies , IOT ( internet of things) platforms, big data , AI ML : remote vessel and fleet management continues to evolve every quarter. Real time data from vessel machinery and navigation systems together with historical data is helping to accurately assess vessel performance, undertake predictive maintenance and for range of commercial references. The crew on the ship is now being trained to utilize the digital platforms, available data to facilitate higher vessel performance and optimum operational metrics.

The profound effect brought on board by the advanced technologies does not undermine the role of the crew, rather reforms it. The shore team and crew utilize the data for actionable intelligence and multiple other decision points across operational aspects such as:

1. Condition & Health monitoring of different machinery
2. Predict possible downtime, wear -n- tear for any specific part or equipment ecosystem
3. Ensure optimum machinery performance with continuous historical and live data visualization
4. Planning condition based maintenance instead of scheduled maintenance only
5. Smart alerts & alarms on consumption patterns, outliers, deviation without having to continuously keep a watch.
6. Tracking and managing regulatory compliances ( critical areas such as emissions)   

Digitally Empowered Crew Impacting Energy Management

Energy management is imperative from the perspective of cost as well as the regulatory constraints. The crew significantly contributes to enhancing the operational performance of the ship. They can identify underperforming areas, consumption deviations with help of on demand intelligence on the digital dashboards. While the crew stays focused on their allocated tasks, digital systems continue to track, monitor and publish continuous performance trends, operational parameters leading on to an effective crew on board that takes instant decisions on course correction. For ex: they are trained to correlate the environmental factors with machinery data analytics to attain speed optimization at different navigational segments of the voyage routes. Crew response time has considerably come down with intelligent on board systems helping the superintendents and shore team to focus on improving over all efficiency

Continuous tracking of Main Engine, DG, Auxillaries vis-à-vis their consumption in addition to over all vessel’s energy requirement is now tracked  ,monitored and to a large extent “managed” with the help of digital systems. Data driven inputs and suggestive models enable the crew for example: to optimally utilize the boilers and auxiliaries. Scenarios such as temperature controlled cargo, heating requirement, cleaning and multiple other machinery operations can be effectively handled by the crew to attain the goals of energy optimization.