When considering crises, we must recall the pandemic which sadly is not a thing of the past and has become an ongoing reality that will continue to impact global trade.
It is understood and accepted that the maritime industry played a critical role during the crisis, maintaining trade flows thanks to the sacrifices of the world’s seafarers and the commitment of vessel operators and managers to keep cargo moving.
Of course crises also present opportunities and ABS was able to continue its adoption of digital tools to ensure that safety standards were maintained at a time when ship and port visits were highly restricted. Our industry-leading remote survey program made it possible for surveyors to be ‘virtually’ onboard for inspection of key systems and equipment when quarantine protocols made in-person attendance difficult.
ABS has continued to build on this approach with our condition based approach to ‘Digital Class’ which will leverage the investment the industry is already making in digitalization, to improve safety. This will advance safety in our industry by understanding the condition of the ship by digital means, rather than always relying on a calendar to tell us when to attend a vessel.
Utilizing readily available data streams, such as weather and wave buoy data, and combining this information with vessel speed and heading data, we can already today analyze real-time loads and their impact on the remaining fatigue life and overall strength of the vessel. We can combine these data threads and plug them into our enterprise resource management platform ABS My Freedom and achieve our vision of predicting safety performance.
In terms of challenges, there is no doubt that decarbonization is shipping’s challenge of the century; one that requires the industry to remake its models and re-engineer its processes and mindsets. The scale of the change necessary requires us to treat the process as one of short, medium and long term measures, reflecting IMO strategy.
Other policymakers are considering ways to push the shipping industry further and faster and individual countries may include targets for shipping in their national mitigation plans. For example, the European Union’s plan to extend its Emissions Trading System to shipping, will soon put a price on carbon for the first time.
In the short term, ABS is engaged in collaborative research and joint industry efforts to explore what is currently feasible in energy efficiency and highlighting areas where more emphasis should be given, in order to develop safe and sustainable solutions. We examine new energy efficiency technologies, employing digitalization in order to increase operational efficiency and look ahead to the implementation of new fuels and energy carriers.
In preparing for the long term, we must address the challenge that the clean fuels the industry needs such as renewable hydrogen, ammonia and methanol are not yet available at scale. Nevertheless, our program of Joint Industry Projects, Approvals In Principle and Joint Development Projects is helping bring innovative fuel and hybrid propulsion solutions into the mainstream. As a result, owners are able to make investments in dual fuel designs as well as studying and ordering ‘dual fuel-ready’ designs for future fuels.
Decarbonization is a major focus of our Athens office – which supports activity in Cyprus – home to the primary Global Sustainability Centre, providing services including Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Carbon Accounting and access to new forms of ‘green finance’.
Aside from the usual acumen that shipowners must display in volatile markets, competitiveness means embracing the concept of digitalization as a means of improving fleet performance, saving fuel and lowering environmental impact – all with the long term goal of decarbonization in mind.
For operators of existing vessels, ABS provides a suite of digital tools via its MyDigitalFleet platform that leverage data from the ship to drive vessel performance efficiency and optimised voyages. MyDigitalFleet includes tools for access by multiple stakeholders so that owners can work collaboratively with their vendors and charterers, increasing transparency and improving voyage outcomes.
The results can be configured to report bespoke metrics gleaned from operational vessel data, visualize decarbonization KPIs, track daily carbon intensity and emissions, while identifying opportunities for emissions reduction throughout a voyage.
For the next generation of more efficient, less polluting vessels, ABS promotes the use of cutting edge technology. Our work with vessel designers and shipyards is increasingly focussed on ways to adopt digital tools in support of measurable efficiency gains, using 3D models to streamline the class approval workflow process, reduce project risk, save cost and increase efficiency.
The next extension to this process is the use of modelling and simulation (SIM) technology to help owners understand how to future proof their design choices and create vessels that can adapt as regulations change.
For newbuildings, SIM-based energy efficiency evaluation supports optimization of the propulsion system, provides system level assessment of fuel consumption and supports life-cycle cost analysis as well as detailed design comparison and optimization of equipment parameters. For existing vessels, the service assists with evaluating the retrofitting options and operational changes to reduce fuel consumption and maintain compliance with regulations.
In recognition of the multiple, interconnected challenges the industry faces, ABS has recently published the fourth of its series ‘Setting the Course to Low Carbon Shipping’.
The Outlook examines how the maritime sector will be impacted based on the latest trends and developments out of the IMO, technology readiness of low carbon and alternative fuels and the hydrogen and carbon value chain accelerators. It also examines the possible capacity demand and related emissions output trends on a global basis to envision the environments in which targets may be achieved through the prism of those value chains.
With the Outlook as guidance, we believe industry stakeholders can understand the complexity of the tasks-at-hand, make informed decisions and move forward effectively as they evaluate their options for their future shipping operations.
* Regional Manager, ABS Limassol