Panagiotis Anastassiou Is Digitalisation a Challenge or Opportunity for the industry?

Digitalisation

Mr Angelos Minakis, Business Development Manager, ABS

Process Digitalisation

Digitalisation is a “buzzword”, as is decarbonization. In fact, these two are sometimes referred to together or described as the “two D’s”. However, the opportunities and challenges of digitalization in the maritime sector require a proper explanation and a unique understanding. This article explains how digitization will impact the industry across the asset lifecycle, permeating many technical and commercial business processes.

Is Digitalisation a Challenge or Opportunity for the industry?

Digitalization offers one of the greatest opportunities in terms of environmental, safety and performance improvements. The potential benefits across shipping companies range from improving business lifecycle processes by replacing traditional design, construction and warranties techniques, to embedding digital elements directly into ship systems.

Digitalisation in Context

Perhaps unfortunately, Digitalisation is one of those words that means many different things to different people and in different contexts. To ensure a common and basic understanding for the reader a focus on just two contexts shall be analysed:

1. Digitalisation of business and engineering processes

2. Digital technology embedded in assets and systems

Digitalising our processes, and their supporting tools, enables us to re-engineer the way in which we do everything – business and commerce, infrastructure, workforce requirements, etc – and importantly, in our context, the engineering, manufacturing, and operation of ships and their systems; and also the regulatory and standards regimes that safeguard these assets. Data and computer science transformations have enabled a through-life digital thread for any asset, a digital twin as the basis of a lifetime biography of any asset and the basis for improved decision making and assurance – all of which supports increased effectiveness and efficiency of our processes and should also enable improvements to the cost effectiveness of our enterprises.

The capability to properly model and analyse complex and hazardous arrangements provided by digital engineering techniques enables simulation of many `what-if` operational scenarios at the early design stage as part of the risk assessment mentioned earlier and achieve optimum solutions.

A new generation of engineering tools may require a new generation of engineers – skilled in the use of digital tools and knowledgeable in the engineering practice and know-how that they enable. In addition, new arrangements for digitalised data/information sharing between stakeholders need to be put in place respecting all applicable copyrights and confidentiality requirements.

So digitalisation is clearly a key enabler in the processes surrounding the design, build, and operation of a complex asset – and as such provides some defence against the relentless pressure on service and cost.

Digitalising maritime assets

There are many strong reasons for embedding digital technology into the ship systems as part of the fabric of the vessel. These may include ensuring the human operator need not visit hazardous locations and keeping them from harm’s way or potentially not needing to be on the ship at all in the case of levels of autonomy; it may be that there is an efficiency saving in automating certain functions; or it may be that the system complexity is such that it is not reasonable to expect a human operator to make decisions and respond safely in a timely manner. Having said that, confidence in the dependability of the digital system is essential.

As previously mentioned, we must also consider the human element and go beyond the traditional provisions to ensure the system is safe to operate and ensuring that the human operators, passengers or surveyor are not exposed to hazardous situations or locations (mitigation against slips, trips and falls is a classic example). When considering the highly digitalised system, we also need to consider how the asset will be operated safely in the manner envisaged when it was designed.

This consideration must take into account those who interface with the system directly or remotely, what might reasonably be expected from them in terms of the human-system interface, and the skills and training they require. The operators need to not only deal with ‘normal’ operating conditions – when they may only be undertaking a passive role, but also reasonably foreseeable ‘abnormal’ oper- ating conditions – where they may be expected to intervene in an active role to address the abnormality; in this latter case, the ability to respond to such conditions safely and in good time is also a key consideration. And don’t forget that the real ‘operator’ in certain functions may actually have been the system designer or those who produced its original specification!

So, like decarbonisation solutions, the engineering challenges to ensure the digitalised system is both safe to operate and can be operated safely by those persons the owner is prepared to train and place in charge are all surmountable – with commitment of the appropriate skills and resources, and time and money.

Conclusion

Digitalisation offers broader benefits in terms of process efficiency and efficacy, as well as providing new opportunities for the ship systems. In both respects, digitalisation may provide routes to implementation of decarbonisation solutions amongst many other potential benefits. But, as for other new technology deployments such as decarbonisation, some solutions introduce new hazards, risks and large-scale potential consequences that can only be safely overcome though commitment to solid engineering, also requiring skills that may be new to the maritime sector.

The safety challenges of digitalisation can be addressed by thorough and considerate engineering. All of this represents additional work and comes at a cost – nothing that is insurmountable, but it does require commitment and understanding from all involved.

HIGH-EFFICIENCY

Marco Cristoforo Camporale

Senior Director Strategy, Inmarsat Maritime

Decarbonisation

Toolkit –Decarbonising the Maritime Industry for a Better, Greener Future

Although regulatory compliance is motivation enough to improve the environmental performance of a vessel or fleet, shipowners ought to look beyond the bare minimum requirements and embrace a proactive approach to emissions reduction based on data analysis and careful planning says Marco Cristoforo Camporale, Senior Director Strategy, Inmarsat Maritime

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set ambitious objectives for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by 2050, and measures such as the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) will be crucial to meeting these targets.

Outside of regulatory compliance, a proactive approach to emissions reduction based on data analysis can harness the full potential of decarbonisation tools to significantly improve operational efficiency while saving time, effort and money.

This is according to the Decarbonisation Toolkit – Decarbonising the Maritime Industry for a Better, Greener Future, a recently published report commissioned by global mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat and compiled by UK-based maritime innovation consultancy Thetius.

Based on Thetius’ research and drawing on the experiences of various maritime businesses, Decarbonisation Toolkit provides an accessible blueprint to realising a more efficient and environmentally sustainable shipping industry. This takes the form of a ‘three-bythree’ framework consisting of three phases, each containing multiple actions steps, and three domains of maritime energy transition to which these actions can be applied.

Discover, Understand, Execute

Phase 1 – Discover – involves defining internal and external emissions-reduction targets, gathering relevant data, and analysing this data to benchmark the company’s performance against its goals. Here, the report recommends a gap-analysis study, for example comparing an attained CII rating with a required CII rating to illustrate the gap between compliance and non-compliance.

At phase 2 – Understand – the company uses the insights obtained in phase 1 to diagnose the challenges it faces. It then identifies the most appropriate tools to overcome these challenges and achieve its desired strategic outcomes.

In the final phase – Execute – the business consolidates all information on its challenges, identified solutions and anticipated outcomes to produce an achievable decarbonisation plan for implementation across the three energy transition domains: Operation, Ship and Human Element.

The three domains of maritime energy transition

Operation:

At the operational level, decarbonisation can be achieved using a variety of tools and processes. In September 2022, Scandinavian shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen announced its intention to adopt an AI-based voyage optimisation system across its 120-vessel fleet. The announcement followed the company’s 18-month trial of a performance-routing solution that yielded a 6.9% increase in vessel efficiency, equating to a projected 170,000-tonne reduction in emissions when rolled out fleet-wide.

Alongside voyage optimisation, collaboration and data sharing is another means of achieving operational decarbonisation. In February 2023, KCC Chartering and integrated energy company Raízen signed a three-year contract of affreightment targeting more energy-efficient operations through improved charterer–cargo owner communications and data exchange. By minimising legs in ballast and improving the efficiency of loading and discharge processes, the partnership is expected to result in a 40% reduction in the carbon intensity of its agreement.

Other effective methods of operational decarbonisation presented in the Decarbonisation Toolkit include port-call optimisation and green corridor schemes.

Ship:

One vessel decarbonisation solution that is rapidly gaining traction is carbon capture and storage. In February 2023, ship management company Eastern Pacific announced the successful installation of carbon capture and filtering technology on board chemical tanker Pacific Cobalt. Installed in the ship’s stack, the system will capture up to 40% of the vessel’s carbon dioxide emissions, filtering out sulphur and particulate matter from the exhaust gases.

Enhanced hull design, meanwhile, can greatly improve vessel efficiency. In late 2018, NYK Line unveiled an ‘exploratory’ design for a pure car and truck carrier named ‘NYK Super Eco Ship 2050’. In conjunction with a remodelled hull form that decreases water friction and reduces the weight of the superstructure, the vessel would feature hydrogen fuel cells, waste heat recovery technology and an advanced propulsion system. NYK believes its design would yield a 70% reduction in overall energy consumption compared to a conventional vessel of the same type and dimensions.

Energy-saving coatings and devices, wind power, and connectivity and data exchange infrastructure can also contribute to more environmentally friendly ships, while the deployment of alternative fuels will be critical to maritime decarbonisation in the long term.

Human Element:

The tools of a human-led decarbonisation strategy include behavioural economics and change management in addition to the formation of skilled decarbonisation teams. Crews must be trained in the new technology and processes that enable greener shipping operations, and they must be willing to embrace the changes that maritime energy transition entails.

Ultimately, the key to maritime decarbonisation at the company level is implementing an achievable, data-driven plan for the application of solutions that support greener and more efficient operations today and for decades to come. As a long-standing technology partner to international shipping, Inmarsat remains committed to supporting maritime businesses in overcoming challenges, seizing opportunities and achieving decarbonisation goals.