The combination of the free of charge Fleet Data and application trialling without risk will provide a “tipping point” for maritime digitalisation, according to Marco Cristoforo Camporeale, head of Maritime Digital, Inmarsat.
“This is the first example of a future-proof IoT set-up for ships that allow owners to investigate digitalisation without commitment,” he said. “They can assess applications off the shelf and, if they work, agree on terms. In this case, the We4Sea trials on RollDock Star and RollDock Storm helped optimised speed and generator efficiency that led to a significant cut in fuel consumption.”
Requiring no hardware onboard, the We4Sea application uses a Digital Twin as the basis for comparison with the most easily accessible ship and operating profile data.
Variations with the Digital Twin and ship data are flagged as potential inefficiencies that need action or correction reporting. Under the Certified Application Provider agreement, We4Sea cloud analytics uses the dedicated Fleet Data bandwidth to secure always-on, or on-demand ship-shore communication via an Application Programming Interface.
“We4Sea and Inmarsat’s solution improves our monitoring possibilities and increases the effectiveness of communication with vessels. In this way we can keep investing and improving our state-of-the-art vessels,” said Michiel van der Knaap, fleet director, Roll Group.
“A lot of owners understand that their vessels should be connected to the internet, but still think in terms of remote monitoring based on conventional connectivity using expensive bandwidth,” said Dan Veen, Founder and CEO of We4Sea. “Using an IoT-based platform, We4Sea has proved itself to be able to deliver measurable performance improvements, even when connecting to only eight standard shipboard datasets at a fixed monthly fee,” he said.
“Building Fleet Data capability into Fleet Xpress has allowed Roll Group to make up its own mind about third party applications based on individual merit and without upfront costs. The fact that the customer moved so swiftly from trial to fleet-wide commitment is a testament to the We4Sea application and the embedded Fleet Data as a true digital enabler,” said Mr Camporeale.
