Technology group Wärtsilä, together with project partners Carnival Maritime and HVCC Hamburg Vessel Co-ordination Centre (HVCC), have implemented and tested a new solution for just-in-time sailing.
The partners achieved an exchange of data between ship and shore under real-life conditions, thereby enabling optimal port arrival. Furthermore, the applied solution, Wärtsilä Navi-Port, has received approval in principle from Bureau Veritas Marine and Offshore (BV) for meeting the classification society’s cyber security requirements.
Ships frequently sail faster than necessary in order not to miss valuable berthing slots, only to find themselves having to wait at anchor before the pilot station. This queueing is the result of a lack of relevant data sharing between vessels and their destination ports.
The current modus operandi is often inefficient, which in turn can have a negative effect on doing business. The financial impact is considerable, while the unnecessary burning of fuel at higher speeds also adds to the levels of harmful emissions being exhausted into the atmosphere. This project targeted avoidable excesses of speed, on the basis that timing is everything, .Wärtsilä explained.
Wärtsilä Navi-Port is a middleware, which will be linked with Wärtsilä’s Fleet Operations Solution (FOS) system. FOS is essentially an online infrastructure designed to enable 360 deg ship-to-shore reporting and fleet performance management. It combines individual processes that are otherwise separated, to optimise voyage planning, weather routing and fuel consumption, taking into consideration charter party compliance, speed management, as well as the condition of the hull, propeller and engine.
Wärtsilä Navi-Port now also facilitates the exchange of accurate arrival times between ports and ships, enabling vessels to automatically adjust speed to achieve a just-in-time arrival. Dynamic, real-time data sharing improves co-ordination, allowing for modifications to course and speed should conditions at the port change during a voyage. For the ports, the Wärtsilä system enables better and more efficient planning of port and terminal operations.
Wärtsilä Navi-Port is the first commercially available ship-to-port communication platform that has applied the port call message standard as defined by the Sea Traffic Management (STM) validation project. Wärtsilä has been one of the main contributors to the STM developments and trials, where more than 300 vessels have participated, 130 of which have used Wärtsilä navigation systems.
“HVCC is responsible for the operational co-ordination of vessel traffic into and out of the Port of Hamburg in close collaboration with the relevant authorities. Terminals, shipping companies, and port service providers make use of our operational services for the arrival of large-sized-, feeder- and inland waterway vessels in the port, the rotation planning within the port, and departure co-ordination after handling. HVCC has already in past years been a frontrunner in terminal-carrier communication, and in 2019 distributed more than 3,800 passage plans to our customers. The Wärtsilä Navi-Port enables seamless communication of data between ports and vessels. Ultimately, vessel approaches are even more efficient, resulting in reduced emissions,” said Gerald Hirt, HVCC Managing Director.
“We are committed to making cruising more sustainable, and to setting an example in greener and safer operations. For this, we welcome the development of new and more efficient technologies, such as the Wärtsilä Navi-Port. We have tested the solution with two of our ships, the ‘AidaSol’ and the ‘AidaPerla’. The ships’ on board Wärtsilä NACOS Platinum navigation systems were connected directly to HVCC, which allowed continuous communications, resulting in JIT arrivals in Hamburg. Outstanding!” said Michael Salzmann, Senior Nautical Superintendent, Carnival Maritime.
“Wärtsilä’s Smart Marine Ecosystem approach is aimed at eliminating wasteful practices in shipping operations, and the Navi-Port solution does just that. Collaboration between industry stakeholders is a key enabler to our approach, and once again, this project shows what can be gained when the industry works together in a transparent and co-operative way,” said Torsten Büssow, Director, Voyage, Wärtsilä.
“Connectivity is now enabling new ways of working. As a class society, Bureau Veritas plays a critical role in helping ensure that the marine industry safely adopts new technologies. BV initiated the Smart Ship Programme a few years ago, so it feels like a natural fit for us to be a part of this important JIT pilot,” added Najmeh Masoudi, BV’s Technology Leader- Smart ships.
