3 minute read
SATELLITES
from CSI Autumn 2021
by Maritime-AMC
Data-driven technologies such as satellites can fast-track shipping’s decarbonisation.
Carole Plessy at
OneWeb considers the proposition
Carole Plessy Head of Maritime, OneWeb
REACHING FOR THE STARS
Decarbonisation is one of the biggest challenges in shipping’s shift towards greater sustainability and improved Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. With the International Maritime Organization mandating a reduction in shipping’s CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, incoming EEXI and CII requirements, as well as commercially driven initiatives by financiers and cargo owners such as the Poseidon Principles and Sea Cargo Charter, the pressure on shipowners and operators to reduce their environmental footprint is mounting.
Fortunately, transformative technologies have also emerged to help meet these environmental targets. With new digital datadriven technologies and software, a wealth of options are available to help vessels reduce fuel usage and emissions, optimise routes and monitor their performance. The commonality of all these interventions is the need for data, and lots of it; quickly transposed from ship to shore.
As shipping digitises and decarbonises simultaneously, the ability to measure, report and verify vast amounts of data from a series of sensors and data points monitoring a modern vessel has become business critical. This is not only helping them become more competitive, as well as efficient in managing the energy transition, but for some it will define whether owners and operators can straddle this transition period and emerge from the other side. Ironically, the industry that has for so long been hidden will require openness and transparency in order to succeed
However, a bottleneck to the widespread adoption of these technologies persists, delaying shipping’s transformation into an industry as digitally connected as our onshore peers: global access to fast, reliable and low-latency data. Currently, connectivity beyond the range of shorebased 4G or without direct connection to fibre-optic cables is usually provided by Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite networks. While these undoubtedly wrought a 20th-century transformation on shipping and have a role in supporting connectivity
going forward, the effective widespread use of digital data-reliant new technologies requires a dramatic step change in how these are supported.
Enter Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks. These are part of the answer to enabling shipping’s transformation. These consist of constellations of many smaller satellites that can provide consistent coverage anywhere in the globe with seamless handoffs between units ensuring that vessels on the move — even in the deep-sea — are always connected.
With these technologies, speeds up to 10x faster than VSAT are possible, alongside latency, download speeds, and costs on par with terrestrial fibre-optic networks and superceding 4G systems out at sea. With this level of connectivity, monitoring systems can provide detailed, real-time, and data-heavy updates to crew, owners and operators to enable them to maximise efficiency and minimise carbon footprints.
Alongside these environmental benefits, the bandwidth, speed and reliability offered by LEO satellite networks mean the digital transformation extends beyond decarbonisation to encompass the social and governance of ESG. These networks can offer crew the remote connectivity to video calls, streaming entertainment, and social media even when far from home, alongside fasttracking transparency initiatives vital to good governance.
The combination of these new technologies and the infrastructure to finally enable their potential offers shipowners and operators real opportunities to take the lead in shipping’s digital and environmental transformation — demonstrating to shipping’s regulators, financiers and outside observers that it is emerging from the digital doldrums into a cleaner, high-speed data-driven future.
