Arista bets on smart shipping adoption

Arista Shipping has started using weather and ocean condition data to improve vessel voyages and ship performance.

The Greek operator of dry bulk cargo ships has turned to classification society ABS for analytics of historic meteorological and ocean data to improve efficiency of vessels and planning routes.

It is using ABS’ Metocean Hindcast data application for smarter shipping operations.

This involves processing more than a decade of Metocean Hindcast model data for weather routeing and fuel-efficient voyage planning.

Arista Shipping technical manager Antonis Trakakis thinks data analytics will help the company improve ship operations.

“Digital solutions can truly enhance the efficiency of operations,” he said.

“Historic data of wind and sea condition is an indispensable input for an accurate follow-up of fleet performance.”

Metocean Hindcast data is sourced from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine the wind speed, wind direction, wave height, wave period, and wave direction corresponding to a specified vessel’s route.

ABS’ application is cloud-based and available anytime, anywhere in the world for voyage planning using current and historic metocean information.

Adoption of this application has initiated Arista’s drive towards using digitalisation for smarter shipping, said Mr Trakakis.

“ABS has been selected for the provision of this service on the grounds that it can offer a broader co-operation and support for the evaluation and the safe handling of the data from on board the ships,” he said, “and ultimately to become a partner towards a smart ship in the near future.”

ABS senior vice president of digital solutions Kashif Mahmood other shipping companies can improve fleet performance by analysing historic metocean data.

“This is a powerful example of the potential of digital technologies to drive safety, performance and operational efficiencies,” said Mr Mahmood.

• Turning digitalisation into optimisation to cut fuel and emissions
• Prepare for a year of change in navigation, communications and digitalisation
• Invest in digitalisation or lose business to rivals

Arista transports dry bulk cargoes, including iron ore, coal, grain, salt, alumina and other minor bulk cargoes. It also provides commercial and technical shipmanagement of bulk carriers.

It is working with ABS on a green shipping programme that was recognised with industry awards in 2018. Arista is leading Project Forward that has developed a design for a Kamsarmax size bulk carrier that uses LNG as a marine fuel and reduces cargo transportation costs.

This ship was designed by Deltamarin with engineering input from Wãrtsilä and GTT and energy group Shell.

Smart shipping and optimised route planning will be discussed at Riviera Maritime Media’s Optimised Ship Forum in London on 10 December