Euronav is working with Codit, a Microsoft software specialist, to access and transmit the mass of data produced by its tanker fleet says an article published in Riviera.
Gains In Fuel Efficiency
Vessels throw off masses of data from a wide range of marine equipment and if this data could efficiently captured, transmitted ashore and analysed, the gains in fuel efficiency and lower emissions would be significant.
The Merger
Large tanker operator Euronav, currently merging with John Fredriksen’s Frontline group, decided to embrace this approach and turned to Codit and its internet of things (IoT) and cloud technology to make it happen.
FAST System
The Euronav project is called Fleet Automatic Statistics & Tracking (FAST) – a centralised platform that uses data from ships for real-time analysis of multiple metrics to allow for data-driven decision making.
The Aims
Euronav’s aims included further improving safety and environmental protection, increasing energy savings, reducing fuel consumption and carbon footprint, saving on vessel opex, improving collaboration and overall efficiency, and designing a path to zero-emissions targets by 2050.
Underlying these aims is the goal of creating and maintaining a competitive advantage.
Short Term Results
Expected short-term results include a decrease in onboard fuel consumption, optimised operations and better ship-shore-ship communications.
The Challenge
The challenge was to create an IoT platform that would run both on the vessels and in the cloud.
Communication with ships in oceans across the globe can suffer from poor connectivity, high network latency and connection drop-outs.
Providing Desired Solution
Codit had to provide a solution was robust enough to allow for intelligent data exchange between vessels and shore and there needed to be one source of truth for the data – the cloud.
The action of passing high volumes of potentially sensitive data to be processed required the solution to be designed for security from the ground up.
An Engaged Codit
Euronav was already a Microsoft Azure user and engaged Codit, a Microsoft Gold Partner with a lot of experience and expertise in IoT backend development.
All the components that make up this platform are packaged as containers (a software term for data collection, not a shipping container), with components to be run both in the cloud and on the vessel.
Kubernetes Clusters
A lightweight Kubernetes cluster is present on the vessel, which orchestrates the containers that are deployed.
The Microsoft tool, Azure Arc is used to establish a central management plane for all the Kubernetes clusters.
The next step is to transfer the container images from ship to shore and back.
According to Codit, this proved to be quite a challenge. Part of the solution came from Codit’s special relationship with Microsoft.
Private Preview
Microsoft happened to be working on a connected version of the Azure Container Registry and provided Codit with the opportunity to participate in a private preview.
This enabled Codit developers to install an on-premises container registry on the vessels, which is linked with an Azure Container Registry.
Constant Flow
The solution also uses Azure Service Bus to communicate with the vessel and Azure Monitor and Container Insights to collect logs and use them for alerts if things go wrong.
Fortunately, Euronav had already accelerated the roll-out of new Iridium Certus fleet antennas.
These provide a constant flow of data from the vessel to shore locations.
Satellite connection
To make sure bytes were not unnecessarily sent over a satellite connection, Codit introduced yet another Azure Container Registry (ACR).
This additional ACR acts as the ‘parent’ for all connected registries deployed on the vessels. Through this technology and software, the data transfers to Euronav’s FAST platform for processing.
Analysing Performance
The platform can instantly analyse the condition and performance of the vessel, such as fuel consumption, and show it to personnel both on- and offshore.
Additionally, onboard engineers can add events and additional information to the data to enrich it. However, sensor (raw) data is preserved for data analysis when needed.
The Actions Of Future
Euronav operations manager Patrick Declerck praised the FAST system which allowed “Actions on events that we were not aware about in the past.”
He added, “Those actions will eventually reduce the fuel consumption and increase the efficiency of our vessels.”
Strategic view
Euronav chief executive Hugo De Stoop took a strategic view of the new initiative, “If there is anything that will happen in our industry, it is an acceleration towards more data, more technology and better use of this data and these technologies by people who are very experienced.
When you match or when you marry the two together, then you have the best outcome.”
Did you subscribe for our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Riviera
