d’Amico Group, a world leader in maritime transportation in the Dry Cargo and Product Tankers sectors, RINA and Telemar have partnered to build a new fleet digital operating centre in Rome, Italy. The new centre will increase data collection from ships and provide greater detail on performance criteria to enable d’Amico Group to increase efficiency and safety across the fleet.
The project, which officially started at the beginning of May 2018, is an example of an increasing trend towards digitalisation within the maritime industry. As well as providing d’Amico Group with intelligence about operations on which to base strategic business decisions and operational improvements, the level of information from fleet vessels will enable expert support during emergency situations and efficient planning of predictive maintenance to maximize vessel availability.
Within the three-way partnership, RINA will manage automatic data acquisition onboard the ships and subsequent analysis and presentation of the data collected. Telemar will provide secure satellite communications from the global fleet to the operating centre, using its sister company Marlink’s global, multi-band VSAT network. Marlink’s involvement with Telemar is critical to the project as it boosts expertise in cyber security and brings experience in ensuring safe, reliable communications from ship to shore. d’Amico Group will take an active role in the project, providing technical specifications and validation of the overall set-up for the system and in particular of the design of monitoring, layout and alerting rules.
The FOC project for RINA means adding another important brick to the just released cloud digital platform named RINACube that has the ambition to host many marine services and to be open to integrate third party data and applications. RINACube will be the solution to offer to ship owners and ship operators a new concept of data monitoring and analysis platforms and to provide powerful analytics capabilities in order to extract value and business insights from data collected.
With its industry expertise and dedicated software resources, digitalisation services are a growing part of the RINA business, both core (i.e. e-certificates) and more innovative. Its understanding of naval architecture, the knowledge of international and local regulations and its third-party attitude to independently validate data from different sources provides a 360° set of skills ship operators trust and rely on.
In addition to delivering fast, secure, digital, fully managed smart connectivity across the d’Amico Group fleet with Marlink, Telemar’s position will be leveraged to securely link on board operational technology to the digital framework. Telemar and Marlink combined may bring their capacities, such as expertise in navigation equipment and bridge electronics maintenance, which is evolving towards smart maintenance and connected assets management, to co-create with Rina and d’Amico suitable enablers of the new digital operating centres. Telemar and Marlink’s combined expertise gives complete peace of mind that operations will remain secure and protected from hackers – a factor that must be considered in our modern, connected world. If there is any loss to communication signals due to poor satellite coverage, in the Norwegian fjords for example, the system is designed to log data locally on board the ship and synchronise with the control centre once communications are restored.
The new d’Amico Group operating centre will be completed around the end of the year. As a three-way partnership, the companies involved in the project bring together strong skill sets to ensure a smooth and successful outcome. Once complete, there will be further opportunities to integrate other software systems into the platform to further increase efficiency and visibility throughout the d’Amico Group business.
Salvatore d’Amico, Fleet Director at d’Amico Group, “We are very proud to be part of this project where together with RINA and Telemar we are planning to develop from scratch a fleet control centre built around the shipowner. In d'Amico Group we believe that this is the next step to make our ships safer in an industry where the margin for mistakes is zero."
Paolo Moretti, EVP Marine Strategic Development at RINA “RINA is very excited to be involved in the process of building this fleet digital operating centre with experienced partners like d’Amico Group and Telemar. In today’s marine industry, digitalisation is pivotal to improve efficiency and safety. This project will bridge digitalisation, strategic decisions and operational excellence together.”
Pasquale Golia, Technical Director of Compagnia Generale Telemar, “Together with RINA and d’Amico Group, along with support and services from Marlink, we are building a next generation global digital solution that will enable the Company to improve performance across its fleet and business, helping it to grow and prosper in the highly competitive global shipping market.
Source: d’Amico