Vessel optimisation in the age of low carbon shipping

With input from a major Scandinavian tanker operator, classification society and optimisation solutions provider, panellists for the webinar included: Neste Shipping performance manager Risto-Juhani Kariranta, RINA Services marine digital solutions manager Michela Schenone and GreenSteam and GreenSteam chief executive Simon Whitford.

Using Neste’s practical experience from the tankers it has on time charter, Mr Kariranta offered a holistic view of optimisation, based on contracts in which Neste pays for the fuel.

In his presentation, Mr Kariranta outlined the benefits in terms of fuel savings from optimising voyages for specific arrival times at its own terminals.

“By considering the big picture of port support and logistics, planning and ship operators, we can shorten turnaround times and slower-steam ships to save fuel,” said Mr Kariranta. “There is huge potential for fuel savings.”

He said Neste looks at individual voyages to optimise routes for weather and ocean currents on long-distance trades.

“When looking at vessel consumption during different conditions for route planning, there are good levels of savings,” said Kariranta.

For shorter routes, the company is connecting port planning processes with vessel arrival times.

“We are building in just-in-time port approaches to our own terminals,” Mr Kariranta said .

Ms Schenone said incorporating more key performance indicator (KPI) data and loading information in vessel optimisation plans would allow owners and operators to identify efficiency losses from issues with propellers or from hull biofouling. Shipping companies should invest in sensors to enable automatic data collection and then combine the data collected with analytics reports, she said.

“After collecting the information, we work on big data analytics to plan interventions and drydockings,” said Ms Schenone, noting that ship operators can benchmark ship propulsion across a fleet or against targeted power levels.

Mr Whitford assured webinar attendees that heavy capital expenditure was not necessary for data capture, but that operational expenditure to enable data analytics was key.

“All the data already exists on ships,” he said. “Some is stuck on vessels, of which some makes it ashore.”

GreenSteam Capture collects this readily available data for analysis using artificial intelligence (AI). The company launched a new application to measure fuel consumption to enable smarter AI for optimisation and augmented decision-making at the end of November 2020.

The programme, developed for mobile devices, automatically logs and uploads fuel consumption data to a cloud-based server, reducing errors in reporting. It is available now for mobile devices with the Android operating system, Mr Whitford said, noting that GreenSteam intends to launch an application for Apple devices in Q1 2021.

Mr Whitford said there were four requirements of shipborne data for vessel optimisation. First is high quantities of continuous data.

Then, “integrity of data is important and so is quality of data coming ashore,” he said. “Another is onboard validity.”

GreenSteam has a feature in its software application that allows for errors during readings from onboard gauges and introduces corrections.

“Agility is also required,” said Mr Whitford. “This needs fast capture and quick configuration.”

Ship data is then combined with weather information and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) data on the GreenSteam AI platform.

“It all starts with good data,” he reiterated, “then analysis, so we can do something about cutting the environmental footprint.”

For results from the webinar’s polls, scroll to the bottom of the article.