Norway’s Høglund Marine Solutions has been commissioned to supply advanced hybrid and automation systems to six hybrid bulk vessels.
The contract has an option for six more sisterships, all on order for Finland’s AtoB@C Shipping.
AtoB@C and Høglund claim that these 1A ice class bulk vessels, due to start delivery next year, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2, per cargo unit transported by almost 50% compared to AtoB@C Shipping existing ships. This would make the vessels the most efficient in the world in their class, with the monitoring and control systems acting as a major force multiplier in this achievement.
Emission free at port
The vessels will use batteries, shore-side electricity solutions and electric hybrid solutions to enable completely emission-free and noise-free port calls, being able to arrive and leave port with electric power alone.
Høglund will supply both automation and hybrid systems for these vessels. Its Integrated Automation Systems (IAS) links alarm monitoring, control and power management systems, giving crew and shoreside teams supreme reliability and control over the vessel’s systems. The IAS will integrate with Høglund’s cloud-based ship performance monitor (SPM), using data from the automation systems to monitor performance in real time. Høglund’s hybrid systems include a 1000kWh battery for each vessel.
SPM is an adaptable monitoring software, designed to help manage and improve ship efficiency. Day and Mode Reports are automatically generated and sent to the Høglund Cloud Server together with LiveData from the vessel.
Mode reports are triggered according to operation mode (In Port, Transit, Operation). These reports contain important data such as fuel and power consumption, together with other ship relevant data such as vessel speed, wind, wave, draft and trim data. Høglund focuses throughout on lowering the installation cost, using existing sensors already available onboard.
For example, the SPM system can avoid the expense of flowmeters by calculating the fuel consumption with up to 98% accuracy.
Høglund’s expertise lies in gathering data from all types of systems onboard a vessel. All ships with Høglund solutions also have the company’s playback functions – making it possible for the crew to go back in time to troubleshoot historical events.
Additionally, with the LiveData solution Høglund makes the playback function available onshore through its cloud portal, enabling:
- · Monitoring status of onboard systems through mirrored mimics
- · Remote troubleshooting of incidents with onshore playback functionality
- · BigData analysis and digital twin functionality
- · Calculations of customer-specific reports using historical data
Recalculation
Data stored in the Høglund Cloud server is made available through a ‘Fleet Manager’ portal. Crew have write-access to reported data, making it possible to adjust Day- and Mode reports if incorrect data has been reported. With LiveData located on the Høglund server, new fuel and power consumption may be recalculated once date and time for the events have been manually adjusted.
Høglund CEO Børge Nogva said: “We are excited to be working on another hybrid project, which demonstrates how quickly the industry is embracing this technology. Our systems will not just be helping to drastically reduce emissions but will also give crew and shoreside teams far better insight into their vessel performance, as our SPM uses data from the automation system to give a clear picture of vessel operations and ensure reliability for the long term.”
AtoB@C Shipping Technical Director Janne Eklöf said: “We chose to work with Høglund because of their track record in delivering high-quality hybrid and automation systems, and their ability to work flexibly. We have worked closely with naval architects on the design of these vessels to create the most efficient ships of their type, and as such, we needed specialist expertise when it came to the systems that will make these vessels work.”
AtoB@C Shipping AB is specialist in carrying industrial products, project cargos and raw materials. Currently, the company operates 33 ice classed vessels in 3,000-6,000 dwt segment. The company operates several liner services from Scandinavia to UK and central Europe. Founded in 2000, AtoB@C Shipping is part of ESL Shipping Ltd.
The total investment value in the six ships is approximately 70 million euros.
