Dutch software companies Jungle AI and MO4 have joined forces to enhance efficiency and minimise both mechanical and weather downtime in the maritime sector, helping owners and operators of maritime vessels to improve productivity and safety while reducing emissions and costs.
The offshore sector loses millions annually due to unnecessary downtime. Therefore, reducing downtime by just a few percentage points can save the industry a substantial amount of money. Integrating two groundbreaking solutions for the maritime industry, the partners address the need for streamlined, data-driven decision-making in sea vessel operation. Their mission is to maximise vessel operability, increase safety, reduce environmental impact, and drive down costs through the combination of our cutting-edge technology, including physics-based motion forecasting models, predictive maintenance, and real-time environmental monitoring.
Reduced operational downtime
Modern vessels are highly sophisticated and advanced systems that produce streams of operational data. Making sense of this data is a massive challenge. Jungle’s predictive maintenance solution, Canopy, tackles this by using advanced AI models trained using historical sensor data to learn how the vessel should perform under any and all operational and ambient conditions. Predictions are then compared to the actual data in real-time to get a clear understanding of the health of all critical equipment on the ship, enabling predictive maintenance and reducing downtime.
Canopy uses AI models to learn the behaviour of components such as bow thrusters, presented in this figure. Canopy shows that Thruster 2 is operating at higher temperatures when compared to both the model predictions and Thruster 1, a bow thruster on the same vessel. Based on the outputs of its models, Jungle AI create custom BI for client needs, called detections. These provide actionable insights regarding potential issues on vessels.
Reduced weather downtime
Another component of downtime is weather downtime. MO4 specializes in reducing weather downtime. The company believes current offshore operations are planned using incorrect metrics. The decision to work or not is typically narrowed down to a wave height limit. However, real-life scenarios are more complex than this limit alone. To address this, MO4 uses a digital solution that collects all relevant parameters that affect operability. This is combined with a digital twin of the vessel, accounting for factors like hull shape and onboard components such as gangways, DP capability, cranes, and anti-rolling tanks.
Combining rich data with the digital twin results in motion forecasts for the vessel. These forecasts enable companies to plan offshore operations more efficiently compared to when they are based solely on significant wave height and wave period, thereby minimizing downtime.
MO4 and Jungle provide comprehensive insights and real-time data with their solutions that integrate with existing workflows, providing always-on alarms aware of every vessel’s operational and ambient conditions. In terms of weather availability, the partners state that their solutions are set to increase the number of working days by up to 20 days per year (depending on the vessel type and complexity). Regarding technical uptime, the partners expect an additional 7-10 working days.
In essence, MO4 and Jungle help owners and operators of maritime vessels to improve productivity and safety while reducing emissions and costs. Their approach is said to optimise transportation routes, reduce idling time due to adverse conditions, and ultimately lower fuel usage and emissions, striving to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of shipping operations.