Improving how we decarbonise

Representatives of ferry operator Fjord1, dry bulk manager Grieg Star, chemical / ro-ro operator Seatrans and service companies Danelec and Manta Marine shared perspectives on improving decarbonisation and data

​As a ferry provider always going between the same points, Fjord1 operates in a very “fixed environment”. It is possible to compare emissions data from different trips, said Jan Hovden Eide, Energy and Environmental Manager, Fjord1.

He was speaking at a panel discussion held at the People Tech Maritime Bergen event in November, “What are we learning about the best way to manage and present data to support decision making relating to decarbonisation, vessel performance and compliance”.

It is still difficult to gather the same data from all the vessels, and the company has not yet found a good way to use high frequency data yet, he said.

Grieg Star does collect some high frequency data, but “we are not using this to the fullest extent,” said Henning Rebnord, Principal Engineer, Grieg Star. “We are not able to trust it, at least on a general basis.”

It means that “noon reports are still the bread and butter” for data collection from ships.

High frequency data could be used to better understand the relationship between fuel consumption, revs per minute of the shaft, and torque (power on the shaft), he said.

Without sensor data, we are reliant on data being entered into forms. It is good if as much of the form as possible can be automatically completed, to save crew workload, he said.

So far, this has proved to be tough to set up, and you still need a person to check it.

You do not need perfect data. It can be possible to work with data which has “some noise” in it, he said. In one project, data analysts found useful patterns in imperfect data “which we would never have found looking with a naked eye.”

The company has a data steward, a business expert who takes ownership of data and “takes pride in data accuracy,” he said.

If someone takes pride in making sure the data is accurate, then it becomes accurate, added Ådne Brunborg, Chief Data Officer, Seatrans, moderator of the discussion. A great deal of the work of data management comes down to how it is managed, “seeing what is needed and being brave enough to take away what is not needed.”

It is helpful if you can detect if sensors may be drifting, said Christian Treu, VP Revenue, Danelec. You can have a chat with the captain to find out if it is a problem with the vessel or with a sensor.

“If you have a few outliers, you can detect them and do something about that fairly easily”.

Manta Marine collects and analyses data from about 500 vessels as a vessel performance service provider. It then analyses how the vessels are performing, how they are affected by weather, and what can be done to reduce emissions.

“We didn't have [so much] data in the past, we did our best guess [about how to optimise],” said Robin Wulf, Team Lead Fleet Performance, Manta Marine Technologies. “Now that we have the data it is easier to understand the vessels and pick low hanging fruits [to improve].”

“We have talked a lot about data quality in our company, he said. “You can't make reliable models if the quality is bad. We have our own data science team constantly investigating data quality.”

However, “it is very hard to define bad data,” he said.

When it comes to gathering data, “we tend to forget the people onboard are already under a lot of pressure and stress from all parties. The more we can prepopulate reports, the better.”

However, “we cannot have automated data flowing through without any human onboard looking at it and confirming that what we have is accurate. It is important for crew to be able to check and manually override if they don't agree with it,” he said.

Regulatory stress

With environmental reporting, Fjord1 was initially required to provide data for only some of its vessels. The reporting requirement then increased to cover emissions for the whole company, with 250 data points, Mr Hovden Eide said. “There's a lot of extra work and, we felt, very little value.”

“I like to work with data in ways that make value,” added Grieg Star’s Mr Rebnord, “not crunch data in different ways for different directives. That’s not what gets my heart beating.”

On the positive side, regulations and associated costs drive people to change direction with emissions, Mr Rebnord said. “When dealing with people in chartering and operations, if I show them what FuelEU means, we are on the same page.”

“The dollar is a common language, everybody understands. It makes my job easier.”

It does not make sense for the European Union to have such detailed reporting requirements while many countries in the rest of the world do not care. It is good that EU is simplifying its carbon regulations through the EU Omnibus package, he said.

“Our fleet spends 10 per cent of time in EU. If you had the same [regulation] worldwide it would be easier for sure.”

For a company only operating in Europe such as Fjord1, stricter regulations can be an advantage, if you are able to reduce emissions, said Mr Hovden Eide.

“We have been successful in running electric hybrid ferries for the last 8 years. We made it a business model that is successful.”

It would be nice to reach a level globally to say, these are the 8 to 10 KPIs we are looking at,” said Danelec’s Mr Treu. “In future, more of these [regulatory] metrics will be industry standard and used as KPIs. That will find its way into the commercial part of shipping. The decarbonisation revolution starts there.”

“Staying compliant is tough,” said Manta’s Mr Wulf. “New things pop up all the time.”

It is very hard to create a software system which enables companies to stay compliant with the complex regulation and is also easy to use for crewmembers, he said.

Aligning charterers and owners

The charter party contracts between charterer and shipowner are often many decades old, Grieg Star’s Mr Rebnord said. “They are not written for what we are seeing today. That creates unnecessary hassle when dealing with these new tax regimes.”

Many charterers are being careful about investing in green technology for ships. They want to make sure the charter period is long enough to get their money back. "The time needed to recover the investment is often longer than typical charter agreements," explained Manta's Mr Wulf.

"This opens up a chance for ship owners and charterers to work together on new solutions. As the industry changes, more people are looking for ways to make environmental improvements that also make good business sense," he added.

If the carbon framework was less complex, it might be easier to create alignment between charterer and owner, said Danelec’s Mr Treu. Charterers are coming under increasing pressure to reduce emissions from their suppliers, he noted.

“It is a matter of finding the right formula,” he said.

Where to spend money

It is very hard to work out which investment on decarbonisation technologies and software will bring the biggest returns. “I often find vendors underestimate the costs [of implementation],” said Ådne Brunborg, Chief Data Officer, Seatrans.

“Not just the monetary cost, but [also] the strain on [human] resources, especially when it comes to smaller companies. Introducing any system means taking effort away from day-to-day business.”

Vendors often offer a free trial, but it still takes a great deal of people’s time to try out a system, Grieg Star’s Mr Rebnord agreed. It makes it very hard to assess the technology.

“It feels like a jungle out there,” agreed Manta’s Mr Wulf. “Everyone wants to take initiatives, but no-one knows which are the best. The industry needs to be more transparent about its achievements, so other players can make the same changes. We cannot keep the data to ourselves.”

When Danelec’s customers are implementing its technology, “we go onsite, we say, ‘we are your new best friends, we will teach you for a week,’” Mr Treu said. It also helps a great deal if there are people in the customer company who are enthusiastic about the technology.

Shipping companies may find it easier to choose software systems if they think carefully about where they are on their digital maturity curve, and if the solution would help them get to the next step, he said.

Common language

There can be benefits to having software developers (and other tech resources) sitting close to chartering and/or operations people, to facilitate informal dialogue between resources, said Mr Brunborg of Seatrans.

“Language barriers are something we experience more and more,” said Manta’s Mr Wulf. “It used to be just [between] vessel and office. [Now] it is pretty hard to talk to [software] developers when you are not a developer.”

It is useful for data specialists to have in-depth knowledge about shipping, Grieg Star’s Mr Rebnord said. This hybrid competency is “a huge benefit and something we need.”