Optimization Tools Smooth Project Complications
By Felicity Landon
We have all heard the claims. The transport of project cargo is ‘different’ because there are so many one-offs; it can’t be streamlined; and, somehow, the digitalization opportunities aren’t for this sector.
But however much some specialists proudly boast of traditional skills and bespoke solutions, digitized systems and solutions are emerging and rapidly changing even in this sector.
Some instances are more broadly based – port call optimization, voyage planning, weather routing – while others are very much designed with the bespoke in mind.
“Of course, project cargo departs from liner services in that the handling techniques, equipment and complexity vary from move to move; each time can be different, starting with a blank piece of paper to design the transport process,” said Matt Kenney, head of research and intelligence at Thetius consultancy.
More ‘regular’ shipping, from containers to tankers, is more open to port call optimization and Single Window advancements, and project cargo often sees itself as outside that, he said. “But in my estimation, there are aspects of how the project cargo sector operates that means it has its own use case for digitalization.
“The most obvious is vulnerability to inclement sea and weather conditions. Think of Boskalis transporting a 90,000-tonne floating production storage and offloading unit on the back of a heavy-lift vessel. We are talking about units that are enormous, often with extreme air draft, and weighing tens of thousands of tonnes.”
The carrying vessel stability can need very precise calculation, and often weather and wave height limits are imposed. Voyage routing is probably providing new capability even though not everyone is aware of it, he said.
Advances in Routing Advice
Thetius’ intelligence platform tracks 2,500 companies working in digital innovation in shipping and as far as project cargo is concerned, there is a good amount going on in the weather routing and voyage optimization area, Kenney said. Machine learning and big data processing is enabling far more accurate modeling of a vessel’s position and progress and the weather conditions ahead: “This can give a much more sophisticated forward plan over the next 48 hours or so; rather than saying ‘we think in the next 48 hours you might have a 30 percent chance of waves exceeding your amber limit,’ the information can be ‘at 1605 hours, you are expected to be in this position, and waves will be 28 percent.’ ”
The other side of the coin is decarbonization, and this is vessel type agnostic, including multipurpose vessels, or MPVs. “All vessels need to start tightening up their emissions. For example, the Poseidon Principles require shipping companies and owners to prove that their financed fleets are aligned with net zero trajectories, and digitalization is playing an increasingly large role in helping ship owners to collect the required data on emissions, etc. The Internet of Things is coming in terms of measuring, but also for packaging, relaying, and verifying data.”
While port call optimization has mainly been discussed in connection with liners doing set routes, all ship owners have a responsibility to decarbonize and just-in-time shipping must be considered, Kenney said, so that instead of arriving two days early, only to wait at anchorage for an available berth, the ship’s voyage speed and arrival are adjusted to arrive when the berth is available.
He highlighted three areas of innovation in breakbulk/project cargo:
• Trade facilitation through AI, improved data flows, traffic management platforms and simplified streams of data to match ships with cargo at the commercial level.
• Greater connectivity between owners, charterers and shippers, with more sharing of digitalized documentation and information such as hazardous goods, ETAs and cargo tracking.
• Innovations around ship operations and management, including voyage optimization.
He also foresees more use of digital twinning in project cargo movements. “Shell has invested heavily in producing a digital twin of its North Sea assets. I can imagine a scenario where digital twinning will be brilliant at testing and iterating logistics planning. For example, you could have a computer simulation of what happens if you take the accommodation block off and ship it separately. Digital twinning can help to come up with the best solutions.”
Visibility and Predictability
deugro visiotrack, a web-based track-and-trace/supply chain management system created by deugro, helps with budgeting, scheduling, tracking and measuring carbon footprint – and it even has a module which can locate big pieces of kit if no one’s sure where they are.
The software platform was developed and launched in response to the demand for accessibility, visibility and predictability, deugro said. It’s designed to support informed planning and decision-making, provide real-time detailed visibility, increase efficiency and mitigate cost exposure in the supply chain.
“Believe it or not, even though some of the pieces being shipped are really huge, they are still getting lost in a yard environment,” said Mario Hess, global head of customer solutions – deugro visiotrack. “It sounds surprising when you are talking about a huge 12-meter pipeline structure, but we do get ‘I can’t find it.’ ”
Descriptions of platforms such as deugro visiotrack can resemble a word salad. However, Hess was happy to give specific examples of where the platform helps in complex logistics requirements, for clients ranging from engineering, procurement and construction companies, drilling contractors and oil and gas producers, to the mining resupply, power generation or and low-carbon energy sectors.
One of deugro visiotrack’s most recently deployed feature is overlaying pictures of equipment in a yard with GPS location. The user takes pictures on a mobile phone; the system provides a geographical overlay to pinpoint exactly where things are in the yard.
“Usually, GPS is provided by the triangulation of cell phone towers but we can access through mobile GPS, to provide very accurate coordinates,” Hess said.
deugro is looking at releasing this functionality to locate equipment in the transloading stage, too, so that operators on site transloading heavy equipment can take pictures which will then be geo-tagged on screen.
Relieving Financial Pain
On the finance side, the deugro visiotrack platform helps to budget more accurately and avoid common pitfalls. Hess said the system gives customers a clear overview of how they are doing with their logistics budget or spend for a specific project, avoiding the traditional overruns of logistics costs in projects that are caused by invoicing not yet posted.
“We have seen that on numerous locations – someone waiting for crane charges (specifically for cost plus contracts), the shipment already executed, but the final freight invoice is not there. People think they have more money left in the budget to opt for premium transportation levels – then the complete freight invoice posts, leading to a budget overrun.”
Often, one tiny invoice can delay the posting of an end invoice, and this can lead to significant cost overruns when a client spends funds that really aren’t available – much like a credit card when pending charges not yet posted are not factored into a user’s remaining credit limit.
deugro visiotrack is also being applied to ease pinch points in major projects. Hess explained: “In almost all the major projects we execute, there will be certain pinch points where a lot of cargo has to flow through but there is limited capacity in terms of space, equipment and labor.
“Clients are just treating the work sequentially and they can end up receiving more volume of cargo than they can cope with in the timeframe. This continues to build up without clearing the backlog. We have created a visualizer for that – to show shipments planned and what time they are expected to hit the pinch point.
“A good comparison would be a big project offshore where all the freight must go through an onshore yard for transloading to the barge to be moved offshore. This location has perhaps a capacity of 24,000 cubic meters throughput per week and there is cargo coming from domestic and international locations.”
If it’s clear that too much freight is going to arrive at once, adjustments can be made, for example rescheduling domestic truck deliveries by a few days.
deugro has invested significant amounts to embrace the digital future, Hess said. “The last two years we have all been working from home – everyone is used to knowing exactly when their Amazon package is coming. Why can’t I see it with my gas converter or breakbulk load?
“Demand for digitalization on the project side is very strong; we have significantly more projects on the platform than fast moving container goods, so there is a very clear push from our client side. The amount of customers demanding digital solutions is getting more and more, to the point that they already consider that as a given when we are bidding for projects.”
Visibility in the Round
Elsewhere in the technology space, Wärtsilä’s recently launched Smart Panoramic Edge Camera System, or SPECS, provides a 360-degree vessel view streamed directly to the bridge in real time. So far, Wärtsilä has been mainly working with container ship and ferry operators in installing the system – and getting good feedback, said Sarah Barrett, senior marketing manager. “However, SPECS is certainly suitable for MPVs. The system provides excellent situational awareness in real-time for vessels. With the increasing size of vessels, there is less margin for error when maneuvering in port. SPECS enhances the visibility that the bridge has, providing a bird’s eye view around the vessel so, for example, you can see the sides of the vessel without having to go to the bridge wings and you can see exactly what the tugs are doing.
“SPECS could also help with visibility where the vessel is carrying an extremely large load. It is certainly an area where we see potential.”
Wärtsilä said the camera pods installed for SPECS are designed to cope with harshest marine environments; they work with a powerful video processing system to deliver a “super-wide field of view” Features include the bird’s eye view of the near field of the vessel and a superimposed grid indicating the distance and bearing to selected objects in the live video. The system can connect to onboard navigation systems to extra AIS and GNSS data to deliver augmented reality views.
As a result, SPECS can eliminate blind spots, improve safety and reduce damage and associated costs. It can also be used for training and, if there is an incident, the recording support subsequent investigations. “Because it is recorded, it is much easier and faster to get the information together after an incident,” Barrett said. “You really see what has happened. That could be interesting if there has been an incident with a load.”
Customer feedback has praised the enhanced visibility and but also pointed out how important systems like SPECS are for younger talent, she added. “If you want to attract younger talent [to the shipping industry], you have to have modern technologies.
“Another benefit noted by customers is that they believe they will be able to maneuver more quickly. If you are confident that you can see your surroundings, maneuvering will be faster. And maneuvering always equates to higher fuel consumption.”
SPECS was created by the business division Wärtsilä Voyage, which focuses on providing the maritime industry with technology solutions “to future-proof operations and enable it to adapt to the very biggest challenges on the horizon.”
The focus is on supporting decarbonization, better connections between sea and shore, making the most of data, simulation, and a range of tech and software solutions to optimize operations. “We are looking at optimizing the vessel itself and we are also looking at the ecosystem of the ports and beyond,” Barrett said. She believes that the maritime industry’s digital transformation will require more collaboration and communication between systems – “breaking down the silos between the technologies, to maximize value.”
“A lot of the barriers are getting hardware on board, or a service engineer; it takes time and costs money, and what’s the ROI? Why not look at the systems already on board, like ECDIS, and look at software upgrades around that?”
Felicity Landon is an award-winning freelance journalist specializing in the ports, shipping, transport and logistics sectors.
Image credit: Ems Ports Agency and Stevedoring. Treatment: Mark Clubb, CARMAR MEDIA
