Data-driven solutions – the cornerstone of fleet optimisation

Frontline Management is an associated company of the John Fredriksen group of companies, all connected with the ownership and management of assets providing services to cargo owners, and in that respect the gains stay in-house, except where the assets are chartered out.

One of the largest users of shipping services and one of the largest trading houses, with a huge portfolio of wet and dry cargoes, is the privately-owned company, Cargill. It also has a very close association with some shipping service providers. For cargo owners, the focus on the emissions from the supply chain impacts a company’s Scope 3 reporting and compliance. In this respect, Cargill has a need to understand, manage and reduce its carbon footprint in the shipping space, and this means fleet optimisation for those vessels under its control.

Cargill has selected ZeroNorth to provide a unified digital platform for vessel and voyage optimisation, as it seeks to reduce its environmental footprint.

ZeroNorth has become the main optimisation partner for the global group to lower fuel consumption and emissions from a fleet of more than 600 vessels, using digitalisation solutions to drive efficiencies and positively contribute to Cargill’s environmental and commercial goals.

Copenhagen, Denmark-headquartered ZeroNorth became Cargill’s primary software provider for optimisation across vessels, bunkering and voyages after a three-year partnership that has expanded to develop ZeroNorth’s fuel model and solutions.

“Emissions from the supply chain impact a company’s Scope 3 compliance”

ZeroNorth has extended its offering to a wider customer base because of the commercial success Cargill has achieved using its software since the strategic partnership started in 2020.

Shipowners, operators and charterers can optimise their voyage and vessel operations as a pathway to decarbonisation.

“ZeroNorth is chosen as our vessel and voyage optimisation digital platform,” confirmed Cargill Ocean Transportation global operations director, Eman Abdalla.

“We have worked together in a strategic partnership since 2020 and are confident in our newly expanded agreement, including the full services available in the ZeroNorth platform,” he said.

Cargill plans to continue working with ZeroNorth to develop more digitalisation solutions for the wider market. ZeroNorth will provide its digital platform and software to Cargill for three years to optimise bunkering, vessel operations and voyages.

“It represents the next evolution of our relationship together and signals how ZeroNorth can support Cargill’s evolving needs and expand our range of services and capabilities accordingly,” said ZeroNorth chief commercial officer, Niels Snog.

Also providing a fleet optimisation solution in the tanker space is Wärtsilä, which is working with Anglo-Eastern. Since 2019, Wärtsilä has partnered with the shipmanagement company to digitalise fleet operations, installing more than 500 vessels in the Anglo-Eastern fleet with the Fleet Optimisation Solution (FOS). This is a decision-support software platform for voyage planning, charterparty compliance, fuel efficiency and fleet performance management.

Global director of sales for Wärtsilä Voyage Services, Ben Chng said: “We now have a truly seamless data link from vessels reporting to the shore offices of FOS users. In addition, they can now utilise Wärtsilä’s CII offering to collect, report and analyse their environmental performance. This agreement strengthens our commitment to supporting the decarbonisation of shipping.”