MARKET SECTOR IT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE Curing pa 26 SHIP MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL ISSUE 38 JULY/AUGUST 2012
IT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE MARKET SECTOR the erwork pain As ship owners endure the realities of an unforgiving, harsh financial climate, astute operators are continually seeking methods of reducing their overheads while increasing efficiency creating a perfect moment for software providers specialising in money-saving applications and products. Dimitris Theodossiou, Managing Director, Danaos Management Consultants, said his company is greatly concerned with keeping costs low for its customers and this includes helping owners to avoid fines relating to a lack of regulatory compliance. Danaos has released a statutory and corporate rule compliance mechanism which incorporates all international and flag state rules, in addition to best management practices, corporate and safety management rules. This system for effective shipmanagement and operations works as part of the company s Enterprise software suite and is designed to provide peace of mind for owners by creating alerts to ensure regulatory compliance. As Mr Theodossiou said: The system flags up when a rule isn t being followed, well in advance. For example, if you go to the US with a particular type of vessel, to a particular port upon declaring the ship is to go to the US, the system checks all the applicable rules and will warn the master with alerts and instructions so he can ensure compliance with regulations and security levels and then complete the relevant forms. In the unlikely event the Master does not comply with these alerts, the shipping company s onshore office is made aware of the situation and if no action is taken beyond this, the authorities are alerted. When describing the feedback he has received from ship managers following the release of this product, Mr Theodossiou said his clients are acutely aware of the heavy responsibility Masters must bear where regulations are concerned: The problem is, you cannot rely on the Master or on your officers to do everything properly in terms of regulations because there are just so many regulations and people are overburdened with this. You cannot expect the Master, before he ends his report, to read 10 pages out of a 600- page book, or in an emergency, to refer to areas in a particular text you need a system to release this burden from the officers and that s what is driving our system. Noting that 40% of mistakes onboard are attributable to human error, Mr Theodossiou added: Seafarers work hard, but the issue is that if you don t follow the rules properly and you arrive at port, you will be detained. There are just so many rules. For example, if a Master is in The Philippines and is instructed to go to the US if he forgets to set up the vessel with Security Level Three while in The Philippines, he will not have another chance to do that if he leaves the port, he will have to make another call somewhere else in order to go to level three before reaching the US. The Master is over his head with so many things to remember. The system brings peace of mind and knowing you have done everything correctly. In keeping with its drive to relieve officers and shore staff of the paperwork burden, Danaos has also introduced Info@Gate the company s unified messaging management, filing, procedures and address book system for the ipad, iphone and the Android platform. According to Mr Theodossiou, this version of Info@Gate (which is soon to be joined by a mobile version of the entire Danaos suite) was born out of demand: It s a real requirement for people on the move. Let s say you send a superintendent onboard, he usually has to follow up all his activities in the office but with this system, he can use his phone or an ipad to write his reports and take photographs and the system will automatically submit the report to the office, where the report will be filtered and checked. The system, which also allows the user to view a wealth of vessel and port information, can be purchased through the Apple Store. While ship managers are embracing software to assist with the streamlining of common processes, the burden of seemingly trivial everyday problems onboard is also becoming a heavy cost burden, weighing vessel operations down but managers are embracing solutions to such issues through electronic means. Lars Fischer, Managing Director of Softship Data Processing, Singapore, described some of the most common JULY/AUGUST 2012 ISSUE 38 SHIP MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL 27
IT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE MARKET SECTOR nuisances which lead modern ship managers to invest in quality software: In the containership sector, many have installed intelligent software applications to streamline routine processes that would otherwise tie-up significant resources. Common pain points being felt by many lines include an inability to check that slots and boxes are available at the time of booking; problems calculating the likely profit margin when taking an order; losing track of container movements; suboptimal cargo mix; and inefficient invoicing which causes revenue leakage. These are just some of the business problems that good software can help alleviate. Noting how software can bring some much sought after visibility and transparency to daily vessel operations, Mr Fischer added: Take the common problem of calculating the profitability of a booking a well thought out software application will retrieve variable costs per shipment from a cost database and apply these as estimated costs to the booking. Information on volumes taken from the customer at the time of booking are automatically married with this data to provide analysis and profitability assessments for each consignment, while the customer is still on the phone. And, as the voyage progresses and actual costs become known, real-time updates can be delivered. He added that although installing intelligent software will never provide all the solutions for a containership operator, it will definitely cure some of the pain. As modern shipping software is modular, this means a carrier (and its agents) may select which applications they need to automate certain processes within their business. They do this in the knowledge that each module seamlessly integrates with the others to facilitate a flow of information across the company. Data need only be input once thus reducing duplication, errors and confusion. Mr Fischer also noted how invoicing and credit control also represent a significant undertaking for containership operators, while demurrage and detention issues often create special difficulties: Good software will automatically calculate and issue regular demurrage and detention invoices to clients on the premise that small, regular invoices are easier to handle locally. Demands for large amounts often require head office approval. Across the industry, around 20 demurrage and detention days per box are lost as a result of poor administration or through carriers not wanting to upset customers by presenting large bills, but software alleviates this problem. Warwick Norman, CEO, RightShip a ship vetting specialist headquartered in Melbourne, which currently has a customer base of over 180 companies also noted the importance of IT systems for ship owners who are looking to reduce unnecessary costs, calculate risk and retain their hard-earned reputations. The RightShip Ship Vetting Information System is a comprehensive, holistic, online risk management approach which helps commercial charterers, port state control authorities, insurers, terminal operators, and ship owners to rate and manage maritime risk. As environmentally-friendly attributes are an acute concern for any owner when choosing and maintaining a vessel, RightShip has introduced some relevant functions which, according to Mr Norman, JULY/AUGUST 2012 ISSUE 38 SHIP MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL 29
MARKET SECTOR IT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE will allow for an even more effective ratings system: From February we went live with the online environmental ratings system which allows our customers, charterers, shippers and users of freight services to start using efficiency as a criteria for their vessel selection process. Over that period we ve had a number of enquiries and we have four large clients now using it within their selection criteria, using it as part of their corporate social responsibilities and as part of their planning for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for their freight services. It s an add-on to the existing product and is an extension of the vetting, safety and quality elements. The idea behind it was, if you re looking at efficiency if I can buy my fridge and kitchen white goods with some sort of efficiency rating then why can t I buy my freight services with that too? Our customers have that same view and we ve used a modified International Maritime Organization (IMO) formula to calculate what we call the existing vessel design index (grams of CO2 per tonne nautical mile measure) then using some smart analytics and maths, we ve put that into the EU Energy Label [which gives appliances an energy efficiency class from A to G]. Then we are able to use that to ask within a particular deadweight and vessel type, how efficient is that vessel compared to all its peers? Because our customers are looking for efficiency in the market, we needed to find a tool that was useful for them, not just a standalone number. There are just so many regulations people are overburdened Dimitris Theodossiou, Managing Director, Danaos Management Consultants But how is RightShip engaging with owners to ensure they re delivering a product which suits this special clientele? Mr Norman acknowledged that attempting to establish an operational index is challenging as this can vary depending on the owner, while finding the software which will provide an owner with the greatest control over his efficiencies is also no easy task. Thankfully there are a number of products out there for managers and owners to assist them with their efficient running of their vessels using trim optimisation, weather routeing etc we re only going to see that expand further in the future as we take a more holistic view towards efficiency and bring together all of those different tools. But what are the most important things to consider when working with ship managers? From the start, we aim to be as transparent as we can. We have facilities on our website so managers can look at the information and correct inaccuracies and this also enables them to see where their benchmarks are. For our customers, we also provide additional analytical tools to assist them they can use it to work with their owners, so it s a tool ship managers can use with their customers. He added that the link between owner and manager must remain strong and information must flow readily between the two: It works as part of the value proposition. For our ship manager customers, they re looking for a tool not only to help them manage the fleet, but something they can take back to their own customers to demonstrate how well they re doing in some of those key performance indicator areas. The tightening of fuel control areas in US waters is a definite environmental concern for owners, especially when striving to ensure cost effective operations.
MARKET SECTOR IT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE Marine software application specialist AtoBviaC is assisting its clients to keep costs under control during affected voyages with its new Port to Port, Online version of the BP Shipping Marine Distance Tables, which provides users with the ability to calculate both Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) distances and distances in the North America Emission Control Area (ECA). From 1st August 2012, for vessels operating within the North American ECA, the sulphur content of fuel oil used onboard must not exceed 1%, but this is only one stage in the ongoing legislative maritime timetable which is designed to gradually reduce harmful emissions across the globe in the course of the next decade. AtoBviaC s new offering also sees the launch of a brand new user-friendly interface which uses Microsoft's Silverlight technology. Designed for Windows or Apple, it incorporates an easy to use purchasing structure, enabling the user to purchase a block of distances. Ship operators can also make use of route scanning, providing the user with distances within the various SECAs and ECAs and distances within Load Line Zones via marine information map overlays. All voyage reports and maps can also be saved and exported in PDF and spread sheet formats. Captain Trevor Hall, Director, AtoBviaC, said: Our research has shown it is rarely cost effective or practical to avoid these routes entirely. It is, however, essential to accurately calculate in advance the impact on vessel operating costs and to identify where a slight adjustment of route will avoid unnecessary incursion into an ECA. If I can buy my fridge with an efficiency rating, why can t I buy my freight services with that too? Warwick Norman, CEO, RightShip We have implemented SECA distance calculations into our distance table matrix from the time the various control areas came into effect, but with implementation of the North American ECA, ship operators need to be aware they are on a countdown to unexpected costs if they do not make the correct provision for the additional fuel costs they will incur.