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84Maritime Reporter & Engineering News The term ?Fleet Optimization? meansmany things to many people. What does it mean to you? Dr. Chen Fleet Optimization encom-passes many aspects of shipping opera- tions ranging from finding the best deployments and schedules for maxi- mizing the fleet revenue/profit to mini- mizing total fuel consumption on aparticular passage given the loading conditions and forecast weather to ar- rive on-time. Historically, such deci- sions are derived from years of experiences with hit or miss results. The current market and regulatory con- ditions have introduced added com- plexity that if not well-managed they could result in costly mistakes. Deci- sion support systems are thereforeneeded to find the best solution while satisfying these constraints. This con-ference is very timely as the industry is facing such challenges and lookingfor solutions. You have elected to speak at the inaugu- ral Shipping Insight Fleet OptimizationConference in Stamford in October: If you could boil it down into a paragraph, what will be the thrust of your message? Dr. Chen The thrust of my messagewill be to show how such decision sup- port systems for voyage optimization and safety have been proven over the years and how they are being increasing deployed by progressive shipping com- panies to manage risks and minimizefuel cost. Utilizing the advances in nu- merical weather/current forecast, shipperformance modeling/simulation, highspeed satellite communication and pow- erful desk top computers, voyage opti- mization has superseded traditional ?hitor miss? weather routing methods.Vessel owners of every size are faced with legislated challenges in terms ofemissions, fuel quality and the standardarray of new equipment rules, such asballast water treatment systems. I know the solutions vary greatly by vessel type and area of operation, but in your opin- ion, regardless of geographic locale or type of vessel in their fleet, what could/should every vessel owner be doing today to optimize the efficiency of their fleet.Dr. Chen Regulatory challenges will only increase in the future. Ownersshould invest in strategic efficiency management planning, training, and de-cision support systems to help ship?s crew to understand the consequences of their actions in dollars and cents. Un-biased, quantitative procedures (for ex- ample, benchmark processes with valid KPIs) will reward the good performers while helping the rest to improve. Much is read and said regarding emerg- ing rules regarding fuel, emissions and the environment and their impact on vessels and the companies that own them. Can you put in perspective for our readers the changes we are seeing today, putting them in context with changesyou have seen? Dr. Chen Looking back over the past 30 years, the shipping industry has al-ways been reactive to major accidents: Double-hulls after Exxon Valdez, VDRs after the Erica accident, ECAsin response to port states, GHG from green initiatives of cargo owners, bal- last water treatment from marine bi- ologists; EEDI to satisfy theenvironmentalists. Since the regula- tions often were crafted by people whodo not have in-depth shipping knowl- edge, the operators are faced with high cost and unsafe solutions to satisfy therules. We need to be PROACTIVE and anticipate the future requirements inbuilding new ships. One such example is EEOI. While it is not currently mandated, itwill be a lot more cost effective to fit necessary sensors and monitoring sys-tems in a new-build than to add the ca- pability after ships are in service.Taking a systems approach will also en- able multi-purpose use of equipment(e.g. using the same VDR for both SOLAS and SEEMP/EEOI require-ments) thereby reducing life cycle costs and training effort. PREVIEWSHIPPING INSIGHT ? 2012 FLEET OPTIMIZATION CONFERENCE Dr. Henry Chen Chief Naval Architect, Jeppesen Profile of a 2012 Fleet Optimization Conference Speaker Dr. Henry Chen Dr. Henry Chen is currently the Chief Naval Architect for Denver, CO-based Jeppesen. Jeppesen is a Boeing Company that specializes in providing naviga- tion and optimization solutions to the aviation, marine and land transportation in- dustries. Dr. Chen has 37 years of experience working for the maritime and offshore industries. He was previously the founder of Ocean Systems Inc. and de- veloped the Voyage Optimization and Safety system based on his Ph.D. thesis at MIT. The company was acquired by Boeing in 2008 and merged into Jeppesen. He received B.Sc. in Naval architecture from University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Master degrees in Shipping Management, Ocean Engineering and Ph.D. in Ship Systems from MIT. October 8-10, 2012, Stamford, CT http://www.shippinginsight.com Program at a Glance The 2012 Fleet Optimization Conference, organ- ized by Shipping Insight, and assisted by the pub-lishers of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ,have effectively worked to assemble a ?who?s who? list of speakers and panelists. Speakers and pan-elists will include senior executives from across the shipping industry spectrum. Below is a partial list. For full details, visit www.shippinginsight.com Monday, October 8 6:00 PM Reception and Networking EventTuesday, October 9 Shipping Market Outlook 2013 Steven Gordon, Clarksons Environmental Regulations Overview Jeanne Grasso, Partner, Blank Rome LLP Ship Design: Session 1 ? Efficiency Moderator: Capt. Rene Menzel, Managing Director, Peter Dohle/Hammonia Reederei SpeakersSpencer Schilling, Herbert Engineering Corp Bill Lind, Director, ABS Americas Elisabeth Tørstad, DNVLeo Schellmann, Wärtsilä Ship Operations: Session 2 ? Fuel Management Moderator: Capt. Ulf Svedberg, Master Mariner, Swedish Maritime AssociationSpeakersUwe Bullwinkel, Germanischer Lloyd USAMark Kester, Emerson Ship Operations: Session 3 ? Ship Performance/Voyage Optimization ModeratorUlf Samuelson, Royal Caribbean InternationalSpeakersHenry Chen, JeppesenPaul Welling, Transas Jan Hansen, NG Sperry Marine6:00 PM Networking EventWednesday, October 10 Ship Operations: Session 4 ? Hull Performance Moderator: Capt. Ulf Samuelson,Royal CaribbeanInternationalSpeakersJim Brown, International Paint Frank Christophersen, RaytheonSession 5 ? Technology Moderator: Capt. Ulf Svedberg, Swedish Maritime AssociationSpeakersJohan Nystrom, NAPA Henrik Dahl, CTO, EniramPeter Bergljung, Director, SAAB MR#8 (82-89):MR Template 8/13/2012 4:36 PM Page 84