K Line extends IoT across 140-ship fleet

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) has agreed to roll out IoT and share data with ClassNK’s Ship Data Center (ShipDC) on 140 ships, in one of the biggest investments in digitalisation and big data analytics in the maritime sector.

They agreed to share operational data on all K Line ships equipped with Kawasaki Integrated Maritime Solutions. This is a ship information and communications system with ship-shore intercommunications and functions for remotely managing ship operations, monitoring the condition of ship machinery and analysing vessel performance.

Data will be shared with ShipDC through its Internet of Ships Open Platform (IoS-OP), a platform for sharing ship operational data among shipbuilders, manufacturers and related service providers without compromising the profits of data providers. Membership of the IoS-OP consortium rose in the last year with 57 organisations members as of the end of 2020.

ShipDC enables sharing and analysis of huge volumes of operational data from ships using IoS-OP, improving the current fragmented data collection and analysis. K Line’s agreement will significantly increase the amount of ship operational data transferred in IoS-OP allowing IoS-OP members to use the shared data packages for analysis and applications.

Data is being used to improve ship safety and economic efficiency, for environmental initiatives, to reduce fuel consumption, lower emissions and strengthen the competitiveness of shipping companies.

In addition to this data sharing agreement, K Line has upgraded its IoS-OP consortium membership status to the highest rank of platinum to extend its involvement.

K Line and ShipDC expect to accelerate data sharing and analysis together to further reduce risks to ships and lower the environmental impacts of maritime operations.

This agreement was signed by ShipDC president Yasuhiro Ikeda, K Line vice president and executive officer Atsuo Asano, ClassNK president and chief executive Hiroaki Sakashita and K Line associate director Joichi Sasaki.

Kawasaki Integrated Maritime Solutions was officially endorsed by ClassNK in January 2021.

This was the first Innovation Endorsement certificate ClassNK has handed out for products and solutions and demonstrates the trend for shipping companies to optimise fleet operations and reduce emissions.

Vessel and fleet optimisation and emissions reduction technologies will be discussed during Riviera’s series of virtual conferences and webinars during 2021 - use this link to access more details and register for these events