Page 24: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2020)

Digitalization

Data Consolidation is Essential he digital transformation of shipping re- system this way – and not off the shelf – and an owner can quires data consolidation in to a single quickly start to see the data they need. dashboard to drive faster and accurate de- cision-making. This is a problem at vessel The Digital Solution

T level. Different data formats and sources For ship owners looking for a way to accelerate their digi- and the need to collect some data manually, tal transformation, ABS has created MyDigitalFleet – a plat- rely on crew intervention. This problem is form that collects data from some 160 different sources and magni? ed many times at ? eet level with impacts on safety, provides real-time, risk-based analysis of vessel performance performance, morale and compliance. and compliance.

Owners know they need better data; the problem is that All these different data elements can be absorbed into a many don’t know where to start in adopting digital solutions. single system to enable faster decision-making against prede-

For the most part, it makes no sense to try and build their termined operational and risk pro? le. Having a dynamic un- own. However a ‘do nothing’ strategy risks not being able to derstanding of asset performance bene? ts business; customer retain or grow their market share in future. relationships, safety, compliance and ? nancial performance,

Shipowners and manager already know how hard it is to can support the evolution to a full digital business model.

capture and process vast amounts of data, and what they need Class is able to successfully bring together the technical and is a simpler way to understand the performance of their ves- commercial aspects with safety and compliance data, hosted sels across a ? eet. Analysis needs to maximise operational securely. The industry has not seen this level of data integra- and ? nancial performance to understand how the assump- tion before; in fact the capability to ingest and analyse data in tions in their ? nancial models are holding up. a standardised way has only become available in the last few years. This level of operational data provides a much more

Platform building accurate picture of vessel position and performance, not just

If the industry is to make progress towards a safer more where the owner expects or hopes it will be. They will have ef? cient and digitalised way of working, then the wealth of a live view of compliance and a risk score that can advise on operational, class and regulatory data needs to be brought to- direct and indirect cyber vulnerability.

gether with the external inputs to provide insights into how to Understanding risk pro? les clearly has direct bene? ts for maximise potential asset earnings. safety, and it also means the owner can keep the asset com-

By digitalising core operations around reporting, integra- mercially available and competitive. Data driven safety and tion and ? eet insights, owners can re? ne the way they en- maintenance moves the process from the present into predic- gage with their managers and improve decision-making. tive condition-based data, making it possible to forecast ma-

The transformation process is designed around better asset chinery ‘health’ and its performance.

management with inputs on environmental and vessel per- This degree of process ef? ciency helps to maximise asset formance; improving compliance and driving up standards. utilisation, positively impacts the top line, and drives compli-

The reason that similar ventures have tended to fail is be- ance to support the bottom line. Common tools such as AIS cause their creators cannot harness the data that resides in data and weather forecasts can start to add real value because systems and processes without the buy-in of a trusted and they enable the owner to be proactive in reducing both risk neutral third party. and operating costs.

Plenty of platforms take input on equipment performance or availability but often this is where they stop; the owner

Watch Kashif Mahmood on MR TV: bit.ly/35Xjz3S gets some operational bullet points but little more. In fact,

The Author

OEMs are just one of the data sources that helps to create the full digital picture.

Mahmood

To create a platform that can meet today’s digital needs re-

Kashif Mahmood is the American quires a rethink of the processes involved. It also requires a

Bureau of Shipping’s Senior Vice component-based architecture design using hi-tech ‘building

President for Digital Solutions.

blocks’ that can be swapped in and out as needed. Design a 24 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • November 2020

MR #11 (18-33).indd 24 11/9/2020 9:33:25 AM