Page 37: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2023)

TECH FEATURE SOFAR OCEAN 7oday Sofar Ocean has more than sensors deployed worldwide an array that provides more than daily updates on ocean weather gloEally helping forecasters to improve their forecasts Ey up to . ² TiP -anVVen CEO CR)Runder

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Performance Models (VPM). speci? c business and safety constraints, Way? nder continu- “We built this platform for maritime shipping that’s going ously provides operators and crew with the most optimized to help reduce emissions. It’s going to be tying into new CII speed and routes possible.

regulations, and it’s going to help the industry accelerate its “What we’re trying to do is change the paradigm alto- journey towards a more carbon-free future,” said Janssen. gether,” said Janssen. “Every six hours is an opportunity for

Core to Way? nder’s capability is the real knowledge of change. Market variables are volatile, fuel prices go up and what weather is happening and is forecast to happen at certain down daily, weather changes every three hours. To ‘set it and spots in the ocean. forget it’ would be a very bad idea if you’re thinking about a

While he admits that Sofar Ocean may be late to the game transoceanic voyage that could be 30 to 40 days.” – considering the amount of time, money and effort shipown- Every six hours, Sofar Ocean runs through its optimizations ers have already poured into optimization; from hull design to based on the latest, comprehensive weather data integration, weather routing, to propulsion technologies and appendages, helping to deliver the next strategy. While getting the best to coatings – Janssen believes the holy grail of true optimiza- data, processing and delivering strategy is the hard part, Jans- tion is still a ways off for many companies. “I think a lot of sen said “we solved that problem.” The next challenge is en- ship owners have already invested quite big into technologies gaging will all partners to both implement, execute and track to improve their vessels without really knowing what it’s go- the strategy to receive tangible results.

ing to do for the performance,” said Janssen. “Way? nder is hyper focused on delivering the best routes and

He sees the vessel voyage optimization conundrum as optimization of both waypoint selection and speed. It is opti- stretching far above and beyond simply knowing the weather, mized to make sure that everybody’s looking at the same infor- as the factors that go into the decision-making process are mation, it is on board and onshore, and basically making sure complex and dynamic, including the weather, vessel speci? c that there is seamless interaction on the same information and performance criteria and market variables too, such as the cost that adherence of the best strategy is maximized,” said Janssen.

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