Smart Ships

[JK]

They have this technology in planes, it is surprising it has taken this long to make it to the vessels.
Do you think this is of benefit? Does it take any work off of the Chiefs shoulders?
I can see a benefit in that the office will not be able to say they were unaware of problems onboard.

South Korea builds world''s first ''smart ship''
PTI | 03:03 PM,Mar 24,2011
Seoul, Mar 24 (Yonhap) South Korea has built the world's first "smart vessel" that can enhance operational efficiency and reduce management costs for shipping lines, the government said Thursday.The ship built by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.incorporates a new ship area network (SAN) system developed by the state-run Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.The SAN-equipped ship, to be launched on Tuesday, is a 250-meter long, 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent unit container vessel ordered by Denmark's AP Moller-Maersk, the world largest shipping line.SANs permits comprehensive control and management of all important on-board systems, including engine power and navigation.It can also permit shipping companies to get real-time feedback on the status of their ships via satellite link."In effect, both the captain of the vessel and shipping line will have exact information of the status of the ship, which improves management of the vessel," said Ryu Su-geun, head of the ministry's electronics and IT industries office.Because vital information such as breakdowns can be sent directly to shipping lines, minor repairs can be fixed via the SANs system, while more serious problems involving broken parts can be handled more quickly because parts and repair personnel can be sent to the next port where the ship will arrive in advance, he said.The official also said that building SAN-equipped ships will not add to the overall price of the vessel and can enhance competitiveness of local ship yards that have faced stiff competition from Chinese yards."These ships are expected to be much more efficient to operate during their 30-year life cycle, which should be very attractive to shipping lines," he said.The ministry said that because there will be a need to make customized parts that are compatible with SANs, the system can actually fuel growth of local parts companies.ETRI, meanwhile, said it plans to share the new system that it jointly developed with Hyundai with other local yards such as Samsung Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. and other smaller shipbuilders.The institute said that it presently plans to supply the control system to 40 container ships ordered by AP Moller- Maersk with six more to be put into vessels ordered by two other foreign shipping lines. (Yonhap)

[The Dieselduck]

Trading engineers for electricians and electronics engineers....

Meanwhile, Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark, Maersk's own shipyard is on the chopping block, piecemeal-ed out. Odense is the birthplace of the E class ships, like Emma Maersk. What to make of all this. http://www.maynards.com/auctions/indust ... AKPO100641

[JollyJack]

30 year life cycle, eh? Remote monitoring of shipboard systems means that you don't need so many Watchkeepers, so you can cut the numbers right down. If the ship is fined for undermanning, well, that's just the non-compliance fee, it's cheaper than wages. Lets project that by 5 year Survey cycles and the reliability (or lack of it) of shipboard electronic systems.

Year 1 -5, everyone is delighted with the new gadget, everything works and apart from minor glitches, all the sensors and terminal boxes in the engine room are behaving as expected. Optimistically, Cargo and navigation gear are not affected by malfunctions during this time. Class surveys are completed without any problems, Company pays for the ship in 3 trips.

Years 6 - 10, the second Survey cycle. Sensors begin to fail, chips and diodes shake loose and bad connections plague the leckie (if there's one aboard) Engine control is mostly from the bridge, but must revert to manualmatic occasionally. The two Engineers aboard regularly exceed the hours of work and rest Regulations (MPR 319 - 323) and records are flogged as a matter of course. Failed hardware and software cannot be replaced because it's obsolete and hasn't been made for nearly 10 years. Ship has several Conditions of Class but is allowed to sail after the appropriate amount of Marlborough and Johnny Walker is applied to the problems.

Years 11 -15. The two Engineers spend all their time chasing faults in the electronic systems. Engine is operated regularly from the Engine Room, bridge control unreliable. Company office asks why regular maintenance isn't being done (It's a box boat, port time is counted in hours, very fast turnarounds.) Chief, who is Chinese, is afraid to ask the Super for more Engineers. Degradation of electronic systems accelerates, Company tries to sell the ship as a going concern. Class surveys are more problematic, Conditions of Class are imposed and no amount of Johnny Walker will fix it. P&I Club questions wisdom of insuring the ship.

Years 15 - 20. Lack of maintenance caused by insufficient Engine crew is glaringly obvious. Ship is detained several times by Port State Control for this reason and for complete failure of the ISM system. Charter rates fall drastically and P&I rates rise in the same proportion. Company desperate to sell the ship while it's still operational. Chief Engineers who demand salary are fired regularly. Chief Engineers who work for food are kept on indefinitely. Class changed several times during this period in order to keep Regulatory documents current. P&I Clubs refuse insurance coverage. Retiring Engineers cannot be replaced because 20 years ago, you didn't need Juniors, so none were hired into the industry. Now there are none available. Cadet programmes have worked the same as they always have, out of 100 Cadets starting, 25 have finished and 4 have been to sea for more than one year. One has remained to attain 1st Class and she wants a shore job.

Year 20. Ship fails all Class surveys, cost of repairs to make her seaworthy is exorbitant, ship sailed to an Indian beach, sold for $2 a ton.

[JK]

Lordie, smoke must have been pouring off your keyboard Jollyjack!

You forgot to add one thing, in order to save money, company neglects to keep software licensing up-to-date. Software patches are developed but the company does not get them. At version 5.6 there is a complete crash of system. CE or shore engineer calls company to get it fixed. Sorry they say, to upgrade this, you have to get 12 updates to get to the most recent version, then we can help you.
Choice now, pull it out and go handamatic or have software guru of some company develop new package to patch in and get it up and running.

It doesn't happen, right?!

[thenorwegian]

Whats new? Built, tested and discarded by norwegian owners 10 yaers ago. However-oil majors are pushing for online supervision of vessel routing and performance so guess we will see it again within a year or two.

[The Dieselduck]

Yes that's funny. Those office types are control freaks. Thinking they are going to be able to monitor a ship out at sea from the comfort of their ac'd cubicles. Never mind that most shipping companies or the like have very few people in the office that actually have been to sea, much less be specialist in the engine room, never mind electronics, which I see will be the most problematic area.

[JK]

Those office types are control freaks.

Those pesky office people wanting to know what needs to be fixed and why it failed. Interfering bunch, they are!

[JollyJack]

You need to get away from snow ploughs and tow trucks an get yer knees brown east of Suez!

[JK]

LOL, too darn hot for me! Snowplows are just fine.

[Wyatt]

It is funny, now reading about how the company office people are going to get and will try and use real time info so as to get the vessels to be more efficient. But over the last 15 years, or maybe the last 10, seems longer but probably isn't, the company I have worked for have had computer tracking, satelite phone links, computer access 24 hours a day with the vessel, and it seemed to me that things got worse, in the control and efficiency mode. In the past, all we had for communication with the office was a SSB radio where we gave sched reports twice a day. When we got to port, the new orders would be waiting and we would be off once the discharge was done. Everything was simple and cheap, and we were always moving in the right direction, which was to get the frieght delivered. Once the advent of constant communication came online, there seemed to be too many orders from too many managers all trying to justify their little piece of the corporate inside nation. I am not sure if things are getting better, or if it is a glitch in the knowledge system and it will be a little while until things get to a point where things actually work smoothly.
Jollyjack, I love your time line but I would bet you could cut it in half. Computers are old in 6 months. This computerization of propulsion systems is becoming the norm, so you young guns out there better take heed and become computer wizards, trust me, you are going to be spending 70% of your time tracing computer communication glitches and reprogramming programs that need to get updated. One system will be updated and then all of a sudden you are going to have problems in a completly seperate system that in the end likely turned out to be a fan control system or something similair that might have been analog and was not able to talk to the other system due to its age. These glitches happen alot, and it takes time to find but is easy to fix.
I sure am glad to be getting out of it now, while all these glitches are being worked out, and it will be a few years before they are all worked out.

[Big Pete]

Interesting string.
Main problem I see is that most shipping companies wont pay for the specialist training to operatae and maintain the equipment.
New ships with new technology often come with free crew training for the first crew, but after that, and when the ship gets sold on...
Ship owners still expect ships and everything on them to last for 30 years and as previous comments make clear, the life cycle of the equipment is getting shorter, even engine parts can be hard to get when a ship is more than 10 years old.
Manufacturers of most electronic equipment expect it to be replaced rather than repaired, probably every 5 years or so.
I am working for a company where the vast majority of the Officers and crew are from Asia and I think there are only 2 British Chief Engineers in the Fleet. There is an incredible reluctance to report any problem to the office in case the messenger is shot.

On my present ship I have found that the main engine L.O. settling/ Renovating tank was being filled with the stuffing Box and scavenge drains and then purified into the sump. A win win situation for the Chiefs because it got the company off their backs about the cost of L.O. and waste disposal, but not so good for the engine. We recently opened up the duct keel for inspection and found it full of oil and after cleaning and searching for leaks couldn't find any, looks as if it was used as an overflow bilge sludge tank at some time. Unfortunatly all the pipe lagging in the Duct keel is soaked in oil and a fire hazzard and should all be replaced, try getting that past a budget obsessed Super!
When the incinerator was run the flue temperature was higher than the furnace temperature!!
Someone had blocked up the combustion air holes in the furnace when repairing the refractory, and the throat at the furnace outlet that balanced the the flow of combustion air into the furnace with the cooling air into the uptake was destroyed. Nobody appeared to realise there was anything abnormal with this, although it was obvious to me that combustion was taking place in the uptake instead of the combustion chamber.
All the spring loaded valves for the ER fuel tanks gauges were gagged all the LO tanks had plastic sight glasses.
None of the D/As were capable of running at much more than 50% load without excessive exhaust temperatures and crankcase pressurisation.
The oxy acetylen hoses were rotten, you could hear ther inner core snap like a carrot when you bent them, the high presure hose from the Acetylene cylinder to the central pressure reducing valve had been replace with an ordinary length of rubber hose, the Oxygen reducing valve at the ER welding station was missing, replaced by a straight pipe.
This is a British Flag, British Managed ship with more BS paperwork than I have seen anywhere else in 40 years at sea with regular Superintendants inspections, but these only appear to complain about the paintwork and other superficial issues.
The ship isnt even 30 years old yet, thank God I will have retired long before it is.
Anyone with experience at Sea knows that as ships get older the work load increases, it increases exponentially if you start of with inexperienced, under trained crew, who leave time bombs for future crews.
When I joined I had a first trip 2nd Engineer who had passed his ticket on his previous leave, a second trip 3rd Engineer and a 4th Engineer who had just completed his Cadetship, even the ER fitter was a trainee!! No organisation can withstand that level of dilution of skills and experience for long.
What will happen to these new intelligent ships when they are 30 Years Old??? , Probably the owners will sack Chiefs that ask for spares or report defects and the remaining Engineers will take their mattresses down the control room and sleep there.
BP

[JK]

BP, I thought it was near time for you to be getting off cycle! I hope you have some interesting photos of your findings on the latest ship.
I was at a meeting last week and when I looked around the room, there were a lot more grey hairs then youthfulness! I haven't quite figured out if it is the meetings I find myself in these days or a general indicator of the industry.
These smart ships need smart young guys for the electronics but need the smart, experienced guys for the machinery as well.

Very interesting comments.