Advice from experts in smart tug technologies can help owners and operators utilise technology to reduce operation costs and position themselves for an industry-wide shift going into the 2020s
Ultimately, technologies that are being developed and tested today will deliver huge benefits in the 2020s.
Lower towage costs, reduced maintenance requirements, remote tug operation and minimised emissions are just a few of the essential operations in which tugowners will need to focus on to become smarter and more effective and remain competitive in harbour towage into the 2020s.
Some of the most effective early adopters of the technologies at the forefront of this phase-shift in the tug industry will be sharing what they’ve learned during a day of presentations and debates n Singapore this September.
The inaugural Smart Tug Operations Conference is to be held on 16 September 2019, in Singapore, where experts from the region will explain their developments and future projects to improve tug operations in one of the world’s busiest ports.
Singapore has bold ambitions to be the epicentre of the world’s smart tug industry. It has become a key development centre where technologies for the 2020s will be trialled and fully adopted.
Singapore’s Maritime Port Authority (MPA) is working with Keppel Singmarine and Keppel Smit Towage on a breakthrough project to construction and operate an autonomous tug by Q4 2020.
In a separate project, PSA Marine and Wärtsilä are developing and testing smart tug technologies in IntelliTug project. This includes trialling autonomous systems, robotics, data analytics, AI and green technologies. All these support smarter tug operations including collision avoidance, smart navigation, during transit and at anchorage. Project partners will be testing this technology on 2018-built habour tug PSA Polaris and reporting their early observations.
Singapore’s motivations for developing and deploying smart tug technologies are clear and resonate with port authorities globally. Smart tug technology is seen as the gateway to maintaining competitiveness and improving safety, environmental and economic performance.
Riviera’s one day Smart Tug Operations Conference will profile smart tug technology from technical, operational, commercial, regulatory and environmental perspectives.
Authoritative experts in these fields from PSA Marine, ABS, DNV GL, Kongsberg Maritime, Lloyd’s Register, MTU, Novatug, ST Engineering and Wärtsilä will highlight the case for smart tug technology using case studies and project development updates.
Speakers will discuss challenges and predicted benefits of autonomous operations.
They will present emerging technologies to tackle challenges in the tug industry and discuss how digitalisation will change the tug master’s role.
Smart Tug Operations Conference will be opened by a keynote presentation by MPA chief technology officer Kenneth Lim, who will explain how Singapore will progress along its port ecosystem digitalisation journey in preparation for future-ready terminal operations.
There will then be a presentation by the key drivers of the IntelliTug project, PSA Marine head of fleet management Bernard Wong and Wärtsilä manager of strategic innovation Luke Morsillo.
Other tug owners and developers, including Keppel Smit Towage and Novatug will provide their experiences of implementing smart tug technologies and the challenges they have overcome.
During the conference, classification societies will explain how smart technologies are transforming the towage industry and how there is a future for autonomous tug operations.
These experiences of technology development, testing and adoption provide key examples to tug owners worldwide on improving their operations by considering smart technologies.
Owners need to recognise the operational benefits from incremental investments in onboard systems, monitoring and control technologies and data analysis.
Advice from experts in smart tug technologies can help owners and operators reduce operation costs through optimised maintenance programmes, managing engine loads, incorporating hybrid propulsion technologies and providing more information to masters. The short-term future for tug operations is to use data analytics and AI for smarter operations. In the longer term, tugs will have greater levels of automation, more onboard robotics and autonomous systems.
Singapore will be a trailblazer for testing and adopting these technologies, and the whole of the tug industry can learn from operators’ experiences and project gains in Southeast Asia’s maritime hub.
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