Finnish-based maritime software, services and data analysis provider, NAPA has enjoyed recent success in the cruise and ferry sector.
For example, last year, the ClassNK owned software specialist signed a comprehensive service and product agreement extension with Carnival Corp.
This agreement covered services for the on board NAPA Loading Computers, training certification for Carnival’s CSMART training facility, and a framework agreement for future deployments of the company’s solutions.
Carnival had originally adopted the company’s software solutions, such as NAPA’s electronic logbooks, voyage reporting, and flooding decision support systems. These technologies, as well as others, were developed in close co-operation with Carnival over a working partnership that has lasted for more than 15 years.
In 2019, every ship in the Carnival Corp’s fleet had NAPA software on board to help monitor risks in real time and improve decision making in an emergency.
One of the most important co-operative projects between the two companies was the development of the NAPA Emergency Computer to meet the need to have a precise, simple, and robust on board decision support system for flooding incidents that exceeded the regulation requirements.
Since 2016, the NAPA Emergency Computer has been installed on all Carnival newbuildings and installations to selected existing ships started two years later on board Princess Cruises’ ‘Royal Princess’ and ‘Regal Princess’. An agreement was also signed to refit ‘Carnival Splendor’ and ‘Carnival Breeze’.
Turning to the ferry sector, also last year, NAPA Logbook was chosen by BC Ferries as a fleet-wide standard solution.
NAPA Logbook has been installed on vessels for over 10 years, serving more than 8,000 users and is approved by more than 20 flag states, including the Bahamas, Marshall Islands, Panama, Malta and Singapore.
The software is also available on the new NAPA Mobile smartphone interface, enabling reporting to be undertaken anywhere on board.
BC Ferries selected NAPA Logbook after a thorough tender process and the success of pilot installations on BC Ferries’ ‘Coastal Celebration’ and ‘Northern Expedition’ in 2016 and on three of BC Ferries’ ‘Salish’ class ships during 2017. Installations continued in 2019 and the system will be in use on more than 20 BC Ferries vessels by the end of this year.
NAPA explained that an electronic logbook serves the same purpose as a traditional paper logbook but brings major additional benefits to its users in terms of time savings, data validation, and data sharing.
A PC application, the logbook can be used from any on board computer. Users can easily search any official logbook entry for various authorities; filter results with keywords; make calculations, based on automation signals and check values against boundary conditions.
Among the benefits are-
- Decrease workload and errors: Replace all paper logbooks and save considerable time and effort for officers.
- Make routines easier: Combine logbooks and checklists, as well as get data directly from automation triggered by time or signals.
- Increase transparency: Applicable for all data recording and available anytime on board and ashore.
- Secure and flag approved: The tamper proof NAPA Logbook provides a rigorous backup system for all recorded data. This includes the data that must be logged under EU MRV, and MARPOL (eg, the Ballast Water Management Convention)
- A component in big data: Monitor, analyse and combine data for optimising operations.
- Integrates with NAPA Status Board on board monitoring tool, NAPA Voyage Reporting, NAPA Decision Support checklist cards and NAPA Office
The main features include –
- Logbook automatically enters data from different sources for user approval.
- Manual logbook entries.
- Automatic creation of dependent entries.
- Can be installed on the ship network for easy use from any computer on board.
- Quickly and accurately search for entered data.
- Print out logbook data.
- Secure use and backing up.
- Creation of entries with a mobile app.
NAPA Logbook can also be extended with an electronic checklist module. These checklists can be used for any kind of operations, such as arrival, departure, bunkering etc. Moreover, the checklist software application can be installed on Windows tablet computers providing a portable solution.
Other Logbook services offered –
- Touch-screen/tablet compatible checklist viewer.
- Easy-to-use graphical editor tool for users to create or modify checklists.
- Multi-media content can be included in checklist ‘cards’.
- Automatic linking with NAPA Logbook.
- Clear progress indication of which parts of the checklist are completed.
- Summary of the completed checklist is saved locally, can be printed, and can be automatically sent to NAPA Logbook.
Efficient data monitoring on board is a key issue for the crew in order to secure transparent communications, the company said. NAPA Status Board is an electronic whiteboard that can be installed on a larger screen at key locations around the ship, to make it easy and efficient to monitor data from various systems on board. This includes manual input systems, such as NAPA Logbook.
This minimises the need for manual double work in data collection and allows the distribution and exchange of data across the ship, for example, during shift changes. Existing real-time data can be used from different sources and on different devices, such as big monitor screens, tablets and workstations.
It can also be standardised across the fleet, making officers’ transfer and learning easy, the company claimed.
NAPA Logbook software has also been designed to be used together with the shore based NAPA Fleet Intelligence (NAPA Office) system. This software is used for synchronising the data from vessel to shore and distributing the data to the end users through a web portal based solution. NAPA Fleet Intelligence can collect and combine data from various sources, such as on board flow meters, torque/thrust meters, automation systems and navigation systems or meteorological services.
This can include an analyser and dynamic dashboards for visualising and exploring fleet and ship data with the possibility of creating users own reports from the collected data. Data can also be drilled for different criteria, such as ship, class, time, voyages, legs and phases.
