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New standard will benefit responsible suppliers, owners and the environment

Industry hails new ISO 19030 standard for measurement of changes in hull and propeller performance as ship owners and operators work to improve their fleet and hull performance, and reduce their fuel bills and emissions.

As part of its efforts to raise awareness of the benefits of the new ISO 19030 standard, Jotun has hosted, in association with DNV GL, a series of world-wide seminars. Aimed at ship operators who are working to improve fleet and hull performance, the seminars have attracted significant industry interest, with operators offering their views on the new standard and how it will affect the shipping industry.

Geir Axel Oftedahl, Director of Business Development at Jotun Marine, explained, “The new standard has been developed to accurately measure changes in ship hull and propulsion performance, and comes in response to industry calls for a fair and unbiased method of assessing claims over efficiency gains.”

Oftedahl firmly believes the standard will contribute hugely to reducing losses caused by poor hull and propulsion performance. “With this standard we can finally quantify how solutions, such as advanced antifouling coatings, can tackle that issue – providing accountability and a return on investment for ship owners, while detailing the enormous potential for cuts in fuel costs and emission reductions."

Transparency

The standard comes at a time when market pressure and regulatory developments are forcing the maritime industry to focus on energy efficiency and meeting environmental challenges. Many stakeholders believe the standard represents a milestone and offers much needed transparency for buyers and sellers of a wide range of fuel saving technologies and services.

“The standard contributes towards increasing transparency in the industry and will be a key driver for enhancing environmental performance and vessel efficiency,” believes Mike Servos, Energy Manager at Tsakos Columbia Shipmanagement.

Gary Haworth, Technical Manager at Northern Marine, agreed there is a need for more transparency. “We have a lot of clients with different needs. We’ve got to have a baseline, a way to compare the different products. Some might not like the standard as it takes away the ‘black box’ but the industry needs transparency.”

Rory Kennedy, Senior Analyst, Energy Management at Royal Caribbean Cruises, commented, “The ISO 19030 standard is a very good baseline for ship owners to begin tracking their hull performance, which can significantly increase efficiency and reduce emissions; sometimes upwards of 20%. The standard should evolve over time to encapsulate the latest innovations in data analytics in order to facilitate the industry as a whole and push improving efficiency even further.”

“We welcome the standard as we clearly see the necessity of standardisation as a way of measuring performance,” said Willy Arne Reinertsen, Vice President Technical Support at Kristian Gerhard Jebsen. “From a ship owner's point of view, we are often faced with suppliers promising significant savings but it’s not easy to assess the gains. Going forward, it will be important that the standard can be revised to take account of technology developments.”

Anders Lenning, Fleet Performance Analyst at Wilh. Wilhelmsen believes the standard will “provide operators with a better understanding of hull performance over time, especially in relation to capturing trends. Building more awareness and knowledge will be important.”

Geir Axel Oftedahl, Director of Business Development at Jotun Marine and Volker Bertram, Senior Manager at DNV GL., seen here presenting at the Hull Performance & Insight Conference in Germany.

Measure and manage

“There’s a common consensus that if you can measure it, you can manage it, and we support that thinking,” commented Karl Wisløff, Technical Manager at Colorline. “One can use the standard to document performance but different parties will have a different focus on it.”

Jonathan Dowsett, Senior Fleet Performance Manager at Eagle Bulk Shipping weighed in, observing, “It is positive that the standard is now in place. While we intend to use the standard on ships outfitted with the requisite performance systems, broad use of the standard at this stage is unlikely.”

“ISO 19030 is an important step in the right direction and, although the fruit of tremendous efforts of world class experts over the past few years, it might not be perfect in its present form,” said Johnny Eliasson, Hull Coating Engineer at Chevron Shipping. “It is vital that it is being used, implemented and tested and that the experience is constructively conveyed back to the working group as that can help upgrade the standard further.”

Challenges

While there is wide consensus that performance monitoring is necessary and good, some see challenges. “The standard will be beneficial for the ship operators who are working to improve fleet and hull performance, cut their fuel bills and reduce emissions,” said Vineet Bhalla, Engineer Superintendent, MOL Tankship Management (Europe). “However, drawbacks are that the current shipping industry market conditions, which I believe will not make this tool very popular, specially when everyone is looking to cut costs.”

He also made reference to the “fragile container industry” emphasising that “owners and managers are only looking to comply with the mandatory new regulations, which includes a very expensive BWMS. Another deciding factor will be the cost of installing the supporting tools in order to use this standard,” he pointed out.

Increasing scrutiny

Commenting on the challenges, Stein Kjølberg, Global Sales Director of Jotun Hull Performance Solutions, said that in today’s market, the focus on energy efficiency and sustainable shipping is of extreme importance, as is the increasing scrutiny of company operations. “If you want to stay ahead of the game, customers need to recognize you as a provider of proven and reliable services that can be measured and benefit the customer and their stakeholders. Irrespective of the cyclic nature of shipping, it is the only way forward for responsible suppliers, owners and the environment.”

Regarding the new standard, Kjølberg believes the ISO 19030 “opens up a huge potential for owners/operators, management companies and charterers to establish performance levels for their vessels in a very inexpensive way.”

Quick return on investment

He explained, “The basic approach in ISO 19030-3, is to use noon reports. This way, operators will at least have indications on overall performance. By investing in some additional equipment, the accuracy can be further improved. In order to comply with ISO 19030-2, which is based on high frequency data, a datalogger, torque meter and some cabling is required. Alternatively flowmeters can be used. Both torque meters and dataloggers are becoming very affordable these days, and the return on investment is easily captured within a month."

Kjølberg further argued that even though ISO 19030 is a voluntary standard, “the ability to make better decisions for the future, improve transparency and achieve better alignment between the various stakeholders would be of high value to everyone involved. We urge operators to start using the standard, and they do not need to ‘go all in’ from the beginning. We recommend that they start by improving the quality of the noon reports and get familiar with the methodology. As a next step, they can look into investing in the required equipment in order to comply with ISO 19030 and get more accurate performance data.”

Recognising the benefits

Jeppe Skovbakke Juhl, Manager of Maritime Technology & Regulations at BIMCO, firmly believes a transparent and trusted standard is needed and will grow in importance as ship owners and operators work to improve fleet and hull performance. “As they start to recognise the benefits that a standardised approach can bring, they will use it more and more. It may not happen immediately, but there is evidence that companies will start to use the standard.”

“Change and transformation is now happening,” said Tobias Groger, DNV GL’s Senior Consultant for performance solutions. “IS0 19030 will help operators better measure their hull and propeller performance by moving from the traditional ways of monitoring into the new era of big data, which can be used to boost performance.”

Volker Bertram, Senior Project Manager at DNV GL, made the point of emphasising that initially, performance monitoring was intended to guide industry towards better business practice, specifically more energy efficient ships operation. “However, once proper systems and procedures are in place, performance monitoring may also solve assorted headaches with respect to the coming EU MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification) and IMO DCS (data collection system) requirements.

Summary

Summing up exchanges at the recent Hull Performance & Insight Conference (HullPIC), Geir Axel Oftedahl opined, “The new standard delivered on its stated aims, and represents a good starting point to offer a level playing. It will evolve as experience is gained and ideas are shared for further improvements. In the spirit of HullPIC, more discussion is needed to further advance hull and propeller performance management, and support the widespread adoption of ISO 19030.”

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