Page 58: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Q4 2012)

The Intelligent Ship, made possible with sophisticated IT systems, may be closer than you think. In fact, it?s already here. In September, ABS announced a partner- ship with Engineering Software Reliability Group (ESRG), a provider of data analysis and remote monitoring technology. The partnership is intended to improve service offerings in real-time data management and analytics to the marine and offshore industries. According to ABS Nautical Systems President and COO Karen Hughey, ?The future of operational optimization and regulatory compliance in the marine and offshore industries lies in the ability to collect, analyze and act upon real-time data gathered from operations around the world.? For its part, ESRG brings more than 12 years of reliability and maintenance experience monitoring and analyzing US Navy ships. Their OstiaEdge software, a shipboard real-time analytics application, addresses environmental, fuel, energy and maintenance issues at both the vessel and  eet level, as well as all levels of management. According to ESRG, the information can improve operations by enabling automated data collection for a number of areas, including environmental compliance reporting energy management, maintenance and monitoring.ABS Nautical Systems brings its NS5 Enterprise software to the mix, and the integration of NS5 Enterprise and Osti- aEdge will bridge  eet management with the maintenance and operational management aspects of vessels and offshore units. Hughey adds, ?This will provide owners and operators the ability to make decisions with data and analysis they can trust. The partnership brings tremendous opportunity for marine and offshore operators to better manage key  eet data and im- prove upon the larger classi cation experience.? Established in 2000, ESRG enables industrial asset owners and equipment manufacturers to reduce downtime as well as operations and maintenance costs by using real-time, smart analytics to automate compliance reporting, optimize fuel and energy consumption and implement automated condition based maintenance strategies. Until now, their primary thrust on the maritime side of the equation had been monitoring systems and analyzing data from U.S. Naval vessels. ESRG?s OstiaEdge SmartShip According to ESRG?s Rob Bradenham, ESRG?s largest cus- tomer at present is the United States Navy, providing experi- ence in all types of navy hulls. ESRG monitors all manners of equipment performance, but has particularly deep roots with the Navy?s gas turbines. Bradenham explains, ?Algorithms in the software predict failures and provide a ?stoplight,? en- abling shore-based leadership to have a real time view of per- formance. As many as 7,000 data points per second are sifted and analyzed.? Software can assess different engines and systems and then prioritize maintenance routines. But, ESRG has installed and validated the technology with commercial entities ? primarily in the offshore and oil & gas industries. The ESRG software, scalable for commercial use and interfaced with ABS NS5, ultimately provides a turnkey solution for operators. ESRG monitoring creates value by reducing maintenance cost on at least one series of USN vessels; sometimes as much as $70,000 per hull. And, according to Bradenham, this would translate into similar ef ciencies for commercial entities. He explained, ?Many failures to equipment occur directly after it has been opened up for inspection. If you can reduce the num-ber of times a piece of equipment or engine has been opened, you not only save maintenance costs, but you also prevent other problems from occurring.? ESRG?s biggest value so far has been the monitoring of fuel consumption and emissions, providing proven savings in plant con guration and helping vessels and  eets operate in a more fuel ef cient manner through better data which in turn allows better decision making. And the automation of certain report- ing functions will eventually facilitate anticipated regulatory requirements but also eliminate the need for time consuming manual data entry. Today and of particular relevancy to emerging trends in the commercial marine markets, ESRG monitors more than 50 gas turbine engines. For marine operators operating or con- templating the switch to dual fuel engines, the technology is especially attractive. With engine makers touting reduced maintenance costs and increased servicing intervals, the means with which to verify that metric is especially important ? both for operators and regulatory bodies alike. Technology TECHNOLOGY Compliance and EfÞ ciency via High-Tech Partnerships TBy Joseph Keefe ABS Partners with ESRG, integrates NS5 Enterprise Fleet Management Software with ESRG?s OstiaEdge technology, greatly enhancing Data Management and utility. 58 | Maritime Professional | 4Q 2012MP #4 50-63.indd 58MP #4 50-63.indd 5811/12/2012 10:11:16 AM11/12/2012 10:11:16 AM