Page 18: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 2021)

Digitalization

Decarbonization via the

Digitalization Path

When talk turns to decarbonization, it often starts with new builds, new fuels or main engine re? ts. Madeleine Engelhardt, s-Suite Product Management, StormGeo, contends that data-driven ? eet performance services – deserves to be in the conversation.

By Greg Trauthwein he marine industry is being driven by regulators and commercial, technical, and operational performance to real social pressure to reduce emissions, and more than ? eld potential saving, and of course to steer improvement.” two years ago the Initial IMO Strategy on reduction The same information is necessary, too, if ultimately the

T of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships was decision is made to invest in new tonnage or a machinery up- released, calling on the industry to reduce its average carbon grade to existing ships, as it’s important to have precise data intensity by up to 40 percent by 2030 and by 70 percent in on where you are at, and where you want to be. “If you have 2050 (compared to 2008 statistics). But as anyone in the in- an older vessel, and you’re considering design retro? ts, be- dustry knows, the path to 2050 is neither straight nor clear, fore you (start the design), you have to determine a new op- and most industry insiders and analysts agree that meeting erational pro? le,” said Engelhardt. “You need data. And after these targets will require a mix of technology and technique, the retro? t, you of course want to assess the effectiveness of from alternative fuels to innovative ship design and out? tting. the measure, and you want to verify the fuel savings, and to

The bigger, immediate question hovers around the 50,000+ know when the return-on-investment point is achieved. For ? eet of existing ships that must make step changes to cleaner that you need data, and that is what s-Insight serves.” operations while remaining economically viable.

As owners evaluate scrapping old ships and building new, What is s-Insight?

or investing in high CapEx main propulsion re? ts, Madeleine StormGeo provides weather intelligence and decision sup-

Engelhardt and her StormGeo s-Insight team reckon that port services, and cumulatively it manages approximately true end-to-end digital solutions with voyage planning and 5,500 routings per month globally. Recently, the company weather routing at the heart are a viable means to reduce fuel launched s-Suite, designed as a complete, one stop solu- consumption, cut fuel costs and reduce emissions at the same tion for shipping customers that includes Voyage Planning, time as software tools combined with advances in data ana- Onboard Route Optimization, Route Advisory Services and lytics and improved ship-to-shore communications have cre- Fleet Performance Management, which can be used together ated genuine opportunities for owners and operators seeking or as individual modules.

to improve voyage ef? ciency and ? eet performance. “s-Insight provides the framework to set the scope to iden-

In one case, StormGeo reports that it pilot-tested weath- tify and establish best practices, related to ef? cient ship op- er routing system with Odfjell Tankers over a period of 10 eration and maintenance,” said Engelhardt. “But also, it helps years. Since then, Odfjell Tankers saved an estimated 48,602 you to understand the impact of measures (taken onboard metric tons of fuel, which is equivalent to nearly $18m in fuel ships to enhance ef? ciencies). Igt helps owners to manage cost savings. ship performance, environmental compliance, and to drive “You could consider a ? eet decision support monitor for continuous improvement. By using s-Insight, you can inte- shipowners, but also operators, where we integrate differ- grate it into existing energy management system, or we can ent data sources within the applications of our s-Suite,” said also help you to set up an energy management system, to help

Engelhardt. “So this could be, for example, intended tracks, procedures to achieve targeted energy objectives.” manual event data reporting, sensor data, vessel schedules, The package transcends the simpler de? nition of ‘software bunker data, which is, at the end, super-imposed with mid- solution’, rather s-Insight is designed as a wholistic data man- ocean data. And special areas such as war risk areas, or agement and decision support system. That said, the system ecozones, or areas with recent pirate attacks, as well as ENC is only as good as the people on ships and on shore that use overlay. So basically, s-Insight provides tools for assessing it. “Purchasing voyage optimization and ? eet decision sup- 18 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • January 2021

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