Later this year a solution for the cross-fleet measuring of vessel speed, hull condition and fuel consumption is expected to be launched following extensive R&D into the benchmarking of a vessel's technical performance.
In the past decades, efforts have been made to better utilise technical operation data in shipping. The goal has been to manage ships technical operation with lower cost, higher quality and reliability. However, the analysis of technical operations data raises two major challenges: data is not accessible and there is lack of consistent and systematic analysis.
Several Norwegian shipowners have now teamed up with DNV, Marintek (Norwegian Marine Technology Research Institute) and The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) to establish tools and processes for the benchmarking of technical performance. In 2005 a Technical Operation Competence Centre (TOCC) will be set up at Marintek's premises in Trondheim, Norway, to act as a clearing house for knowledge and to share the best practices to the project participants.
Web solution
Last year, an initial project was carried out together with Odfjell Management and Star Information Systems, establishing infrastructure and software tools for fleet-wide measuring of main engine performance. With funding from DNV and the Norwegian Research Council, the project is expected to escalate during the course of the year as new shipowners hook up to a web solution accessing performance and benchmarking tools.
The project is also to harvest a web-based infrastructure and the tool for technical performance of machinery systems. Later this year it is intended to launch a tool for cross-fleet measuring of vessel speed, hull condition and fuel consumption.
Existing solutions
The tools and infrastructure will utilise existing solutions developed by DNV and Marintek over the past few years. For the infrastructure and web solutions the experience gained by the development of Nauticus Exchange will be used, while the Marintek tools TecoMan and SopranWEB will be tested for the benchmarking of performance.
TecoMan is a tool for assessing technical performance, and last year this was fine-tuned to make an easy fleet-wide assessment of main engine technical conditions.
SopranWEB, meanwhile, is a data refinement tool using information from the ship daily reports about speed and consumption to extract the hull condition. The objective is to enable shipowners to decide optimum time for hull maintenance action such as docking or hull and propeller polishing.
The future
Over the next three years additional tools will be included, focusing on the development of simple yet robust technical solutions. Presently the project is member-based, where the shipowners who participate pay a fixed fee. Members will get access to tools and solutions developed and they will also have an active influence on the development. In the long term, the goal is to establish a permanent TOCC supporting shipowner members worldwide.