Combining route planning with digital twins for voyage optimisation

Blending digital twin and passage planning technologies will deliver more integrated voyage optimisation for shipowners, operators and charterers.

Information can be collated from vessel design models, daily operational data and weather conditions to reduce voyage costs for owners.

Amalgamate this data with ship performance during previous voyages and vessel position data for dynamic and accurate voyage optimisation, said Napa Shipping Solutions senior research engineer Teemu Manderbacka.

“It is also important to combine information on the bunker costs to analyse ship voyage costs versus earnings,” he said during Riviera Maritime Media’s ‘Voyage planning for maximum vessel efficiency’ webinar.

“Regular use of voyage optimisation pays off in the long run. Huge savings can be achieved,” said Mr Manderbacka. “Owners consistently and regularly optimising voyages find opportunities to save fuel and make accurate estimates of arrival time and fuel consumption per voyage, improving the accuracy of their operations.”

To achieve this, operators need weather forecasts and information on emission control and no-go areas to optimise routes.

Napa integrates this information with ECDIS electronic navigational charts, automatic identification system (AIS), noon reports and monitoring data from ship automation signals for voyage optimisation.

“We integrate this big data with naval architecture models, data from past voyages and port data,” said Mr Manderbacka. “It is all combined into a performance model based on the ship design knowledge, meaning we can implement a digital twin automatically of the entire vessel.”

Napa then blends information from the performance reporting modules to these dynamic digital twins for voyage optimisation. It has access to naval architecture for a global fleet of more than 55,000 ships.

“By monitoring and analysing operational data, it is possible to improve the accuracy of these design models, which is then used to optimise voyages,” said Mr Manderbacka.

“Our digital twin mirrors the life of the actual vessel and can be used for performance analytics and reporting. This way we have an up-to-date model for both analysing past voyages and optimising future voyages.”

Napa then incorporates environmental information for a full hydrodynamic model of the ship. “We couple all the effects of wind, waves, swell, current and shallow water effects with hull fouling,” he continues. “And, it accounts for the propulsion and engineroom arrangement of that vessel.”

This hydrodynamic model can be used to solve operational challenges such as balancing environmental forces, or finding the required thrust and power. “We can calculate engine revolutions and required fuel oil consumption during a voyage,” said Mr Manderbacka. “This integrated approach enables us to compare our reports with actual information, ship AIS data and weather during past voyages.”

With the information from the digital twin, Napa can provide higher levels of analysis for voyage planning. “We can learn from the affected voyages and use this for more efficient operations in future,” he concluded.

Mr Manderbacka was joined on the panel by PT-Shipmanagement managing director Patrick Toll, Van Weelde Shipping technical director Raoul de Troije and Coach Solutions sales manager Ulla Knudsen.

Mr de Troije demonstrated how Van Weelde Shipping Group used Napa’s voyage optimisation software to reduce its operating costs for its fleet of dry bulk carriers on transatlantic routes

Watch the ‘Voyage planning for maximum vessel efficiency’ webinar in our webinar library