02 Nov 2023by Martyn Wingrove
Maersk Supply Service (MSS) is investing in internet of things (IoT) technology on its first battery-powered offshore support vessels to evaluate how best to optimise the use of zero-emissions energy storage systems across its fleet
Inmarsat Maritime will supply its Fleet Data IoT platform for 2018-built platform supply vessel Maersk Minder to help the Danish shipowner gain insight into operating shipboard battery technology.
MSS has implemented an end-user application programme interface (API) add-on for Inmarsat Fleet Data on board this 10,181-gt vessel to monitor and optimise energy consumption and utilisation. The API gathers data from onboard equipment, automatically organises it with time-stamps, synchronises it, and uploads it to visualisation tools used by MSS.
It provides data to third-party service providers such as VPS Maress, which delivers real-time insight into vessel performance to support fuel savings and emissions reduction.
Maress will help MSS evaluate the effectiveness of the battery system in terms of peak shaving and energy efficiency and determine the requirements for future battery installations for the rest of the fleet.
MSS can use the data to monitor the performance of the vessel and its hybrid-battery system, then adapt its operations to improve efficiency and to keep pace with evolving environmental regulations.
One of MSS’s clients has already stipulated the use of battery power in certain offshore operations. Maersk Minder operates in Norway supplying offshore installations from Bergen, Mongstad and Slovag.
“There are economic and regulatory motivations for installing battery power on an offshore vessel, but charterer expectations are a particularly compelling factor,” said Maersk Supply Service energy performance manager Sverre Vange.
“In the years ahead, attracting charterers will increasingly rely on deploying a battery system so the ability to keep charterers informed of the system’s performance will be invaluable.”
Automating data flows also frees seafarers up from manual NOx emissions reporting, added Mr Vange, saving time and money, while yielding more accurate and consistent information.
Vessels operating in Norwegian waters must reconcile NOx emissions data against a record of the type and location of offshore work done and ports called to establish their obligations under Norway’s NOx tax scheme.
“If the maritime industry is to achieve its emissions-reduction targets, it will rely on transparency, smart use of data and collaboration – and the Maersk Minder project combines all three,” said VPS Decarbonisation chief commercial officer Sindre Bornstein.
“By providing an open platform for data analytics, Inmarsat enables Maress to deliver actionable insights, which in turn help MSS to enhance vessel efficiency in the short term and decarbonise its fleet through optimised battery-enabled operations in the long term.”
MSS has been a long-standing Inmarsat communications user, dating back to its fleetwide implementation of Fleet Xpress in 2017.