Why smarter vessel operations can improve the environment

Smart Ship© Hub (SSH), the Singapore-based company founded in 2021, is acknowledged for its expertise in utilising high-frequency vessel sensor data to deliver a comprehensive suite of machine learning-based services. These, it claims, benefit ship owners, operators, charterers, and marine insurers by providing actionable insights and enhancing operational efficiency.

But as Joy Basu, CEO of Smart Ship Hub, asserts, while the operational benefits of deploying vessel sensor data are there to be seen, the positive impact that greater efficiencies in vessel operation will have on the environment through better management and operation of the vessel is even more tangible.

Smart Ship© Hub is being hailed as one of the fastest growing maritime digital platforms for ship owners, operators, charterers and insurers and Joy is bullish about the benefits of embracing a comprehensive single sign-on digital platform that offers multiple use cases as opposed to five or six different software applications that vessels and shore-based operations are used to working with.  

A single ‘source of truth’ with high frequency data together with existing legacy data will drive up efficiencies within the digital process and drive down the cost of technology, he stressed.

“Data has become more democratic with people enjoying greater access to it. But we must allow access to data in a way that should benefit businesses and operations,” he said.

But just as greater digitalisation of the shipping industry means more focused deployment of people behind the scenes making it work, more efficient digitally-enabled operation of today’s merchant navy fleet, will benefit the environment through less time in port, more effective route planning as well as better targeted planned maintenance. But the industry still needs to have that valuable access to data.

“Customers do not want to work with five different sets of software as this can lead to data inconsistencies, with multiple variations of the same data points existing in the system and different departments having different versions of business or operational performance. If I am a ship owner or a ship manager, I can end up working with different sorts of software dealing, for instance, with onboard noon reports, engine performance reports, shore-based procurement, as well as classification society data, weather routing and vessel and voyage performance - all leading to the creation of multiple sets of reports and versions of truths which is ineffective, often incorrect and significantly inefficient when it comes to usage of resources. Bringing this all together is our thesis,” he stressed.

Maritime companies globally are moving from traditionally-managed legacy processes to technology augmented experiences. High frequency sensor data together with legacy process data and vessel manuals and dry dock and maintenance updates, form the foundation for rich data driven intelligence. SSH’s proprietary IOT gateway has the ability to fetch data from any kind of machinery and equipment such as main engine, diesel generators, flow meters, pumps, scrubbers, boilers, bridge and navigation systems, cargo console, video feeds, high resolution images etc, and create a rich source of high quality data that is at the foundation of AI-driven ship management practices.

By doing so, it frees up resources, optimises vessel utilisation, enhances efficiencies and ensures compliance while reporting significant cost savings, he stressed.

A high frequency data source from the vessel together with human fed and generated data enables a range of platform features that includes Vessel and Voyage Performance, Weather Routing, Machinery Condition and Health Monitoring, Predictive Diagnostics, Decarbonisation Measures and Technical Performance Advisory, all backed by dedicated fleet performance centres for its customers. KPIs will be created for customers covering Cost savings, Process Optimisation, Compliance Management, Safety & Reliability, Performance Management and Data Quality Management for operational efficiencies.

SSH has a vessel performance centre in India, has just set up a similar operation in Singapore and is in the throes of launching the same in Osaka, Japan. These operations will digitally manage the performance of SSH’s shipowner or ship manager customers via the SSH platform. “We have set up one of our performance centre within a customer location, allowing other customers to also visit this location and experience the digital fleet management use cases,” he said.

He added: “So when I talk about Smart Ship Hub’s digital platform and the purpose we drive, we are geared up to be the most comprehensive digital platform for the maritime ecosystem, managing workflow and day-to-day deliverables of ship owners, managers, operators, charterers, not to mention the ship supplier and the insurers. Because everybody wants data, everybody would like to have intelligence from that data but nobody should need to duplicate their efforts. So once the data comes from a single source, this single source of truth ensures a rich foundation for the organisation to optimise its technical and operational KPIs, as an enterprise platform is expected to do.”

SSH’s performance centres are currently geared up to digitally manage the performance of 600 ships, and set to rise to 1,000 in the next 12 months once Singapore and Japan come fully on stream.

Smart Ship Hub’s recently underlined its commitment to the important Japanese market by the infusion of significant strategic investment from one of Japan’s oldest and largest maritime equipment manufacturers.

Nakakita Seisakusho, the Japanese market leader in valves and high-quality fluid control devices, is known for its innovative butterfly valves and various other fluid control systems. True to its corporate motto of ‘Frontier Spirits’, Nakakita is globally recognised for its innovation, quality and customer value.

It also recently announced a collaboration with Kongsberg Digital that will focus on integrating Kongsberg Digital's Vessel Insight with the Smart Ship Hub ready-to-deploy digital platform. This will enable seamless data from connected sources collected by Vessel Insight and robust in-the-cloud and on-edge intelligence by Smart Ship Hub. By leveraging a dedicated customer cloud instance as well as edge access, the partnership promises a customisable experience in performance management, optimisation, machinery condition and decarbonisation, among other critical areas, both on individual vessel and fleet levels.

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