AI providers apply expertise to optimise OSV operations

Opsealog business director, Damien Bertin, said the application of AI in the OSV industry is spreading quickly. The French company uses AI to help OSV owners improve fuel efficiency, improve reporting accuracy and enhance operational decision-making. The company works with vessel owners, but also with charterers.

“Imagine that a bridge logbook says 22.5 tonnes of fuel have been consumed but the sensors onboard a vessel say 23.4 tonnes, or that AIS positions indicate a transit of 10 hours at 7 knots, but there is a gap of 1.5 hours without positions. Which numbers do you trust? How do you accurately calculate emissions, budget for fuel costs or try to optimise performance?

“These kinds of scenarios play out regularly in the market, and have measurable consequences, such as poor budgeting and failed audits. The problem isn’t a lack of data,” said Mr Bertin. “Modern offshore vessels generate terabytes of data. The problem is trust. Opsealog provides reliable data and uses AI to provide smarter operational decisions and enhanced accuracy and efficiency.”

The result, he said, is significant fuel savings, reduced emissions and operating costs, more uptime and ‘smarter’ vessel operations. He cited the case of an anchor-handling tug/supply vessel operating offshore West Africa that used Opsealog’s products to deliver a 732.6 m³ reduction in fuel consumption, resulting in 1,984 tonnes of CO2 avoided over a 12 month period.

In the Middle East, a proof-of-concept trial on 11 vessels enabled ADNOC Logistics & Service to significantly reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in a fleet-wide adoption of Marinsights, Opsealog’s performance management platform, which provides customers with centralised visibility of fleet activity, emissions and productivity.

In another application of its products, Opsealog’s e-reporting system Streamlog was used by Azule Energy, Angola’s largest independent energy company, to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from its OSV fleet, support regulatory compliance and ensure Azule Energy met its own environmental commitments.

Using Streamlog, Opsealog was able to fully digitize onboard reporting and deliver real-time vessel tracking to Azule Energy. The data was integrated and analysed using the Marinsights platform to provide in-depth insights that boosted operational efficiency, reduced fuel consumption and emissions, and maximised vessel safety and reliability. Opsealog also provided Azule Energy with data-driven insights to develop a cost allocation system for each of the blocks in which it operates, enabling it to address costs and emissions associated with vessel scheduling deviations.

AI is helping vessel owners optimise the performance of their vessels, but it is also helping charterers and brokers find the right vessel more quickly, as Seavium founder, Adrien Barrau, told OSJ.

The company Mr Barrau formed provides a growing number of charterers and an increasing number of brokers with AI-powered vessel matching and availability tools, giving them enhanced market intelligence whilst supporting decision-making. Seavium already provides coverage in 95% of the EMEA region and is evolving into the Brazilian and the wider Latin American OSV market. It has plans to roll-out its platform in the APAC region.

“Seavium uses AI throughout its platform, in the back-office where it takes in and cleans millions of AIS positions, to the front-end, where it enables users to search for vessels, refine searches and provide them with guidance about day rates,” Mr Barrau explained.

“We are adding more and more functionality to Seavium all the time,” he said, highlighting the recent addition of additional data such as vessel crane capacity and propulsion. “AI is the thread that connects everything we are building,” he told OSJ. “We are able to provide live pricing intelligence, directly on each vessel page. Now, the kind of data that you used to have to obtain from brokers with years of experience is only a click away.”