The Internet of Things (IoT) Revolution is making inroads into the global shipping industry, and Danelec Marine plans to play a central role in accelerating that process by removing one of the major barriers to entry.
“The critical element in any IoT system is the availability of timely, high-quality data through reliable low-cost connections from remotely located machines, equipment and systems,” explained Hans Ottosen, CEO of Danelec Marine. “That’s typically not a problem in land-based transportation modes, but is a tremendous hurdle for ships at sea. That’s why the shipping industry has been relatively slow to embrace the IoT Revolution. It would be prohibitively difficult and expensive to create a custom data network for each ship. That’s why we developed DanelecConnect -- the industry’s first open-architecture universal shipboard data collection and transfer platform, which substantially simplifies and reduces the cost of adopting IoT solutions for shipping fleets.”
DanelecConnect uses a small electronic remote server that connects with the ship’s VDR and other data sources. The unit’s open architecture allows it to accept serial and analog data from all types of equipment with no special custom interfaces. With DanelecConnect, a ship can collect and transmit hundreds or even thousands of data sets via satellite to Danelec’s cloud-based server ashore for only $1 per day in airtime costs.
The company is following a strategy of forming strategic collaboration partnerships with data analytics and satellite communication companies to facilitate widespread adoption of IoT solutions and continues to roll out important enhancements to the DanelecConnect platform.
Partnerships
At SMM 2018, Inmarsat announced a strategic partnership with Danelec Marine to develop a shipboard data collection and processing system for Inmarsat’s new Fleet Data IoT solution.
“Fleet Data is the first and only highly reliable, dedicated bandwidth-inclusive IoT service, on a sensor agnostic platform that allows ship owners and ship managers to access the full potential of the IoT and efficiency-enhancing vessel performance applications in real time,” said Stefano Poli, VP, Business Development, Inmarsat Maritime. “Fleet Data will overcome key difficulties faced by those frustrated with the challenge of aggregating vessel data onboard and getting it efficiently onshore.”
Earlier this year, Danelec and NAPA announced a strategic collaboration in March to deliver a complete cloud-based IoT solution for ship performance analysis and optimization, integrating the DanelecConnect data collection and transfer platform with NAPA’s advanced analytics and optimization tools. The NAPA Office and NAPA Ship Performance Analytics Service software have now been fully integrated with DanelecConnect. The two companies have completed initial sea trials and are making installations with several major shipping companies.
New Capabilities
Onboard Dashboard A new onboard dashboard has been created with customizable screens for crew monitoring of readouts from shipboard equipment in real-time. The dashboard allows crew to view KPIs from various onboard instruments, sensors and systems. KPIs can be color coded to indicate normal, unusual or dangerous conditions. The same data can also be seen on the remote dashboard in the home office.
File Transport System The File Transport system now has the capability to upload and download files to and from non-Danelec equipment onboard through the DanelecConnect control server. This capability is ideal for automatic remote uploads of software updates or downloading large data reports from the onboard equipment.
Teamviewer IoT This third-party software can be installed in the DanelecConnect Vessel Remote Server, allowing PCs in shore offices to initiate and establish a connection to the vessel - without interference of the crew - and log into onboard equipment without having to invest in an expensive VPN solution.
Deployments
DanelecConnect is now installed and operational on hundreds of ships, including some of the world’s leading shipping companies such as Maersk, Vroon, CP Offen, China Navigation and Spliethoff.
Spliethoff Superintendent Theo Kinds commented, “We were one of the first shipping companies to deploy the DanelecConnect IoT platform starting in 2017, and the results have exceeded our expectations. We are already seeing improvements in ship operations from the instant real-time visibility we now have into what’s happening with shipboard equipment. This helps us catch small problems before they become big ones. The DanelecConnect installations were straightforward, including interfaces with all the ship’s systems and sensors, typically taking no more than a single day for each ship.”
Explosive Growth Forecast for IoT
A recent Gartner report predicts that 5.5 million new IoT devices will come online every day in 2018, with more than 20.8 billion connected items by 2020. Business Insider predicts $6 billion will be invested into IoT solutions by 2020, generating $13 trillion of value by 2025.
A research paper published by Inmarsat this year, based on responses from 125 ship owners, found that the primary drivers for adoption of IoT in the shipping industry are operational efficiency, environmental regulations and safety concerns.
