NAPA Launches Plug and Play, Zero Installation Fleet Performance Monitoring

NAPA, a world leading maritime software, services and data analysis provider, today launched a new concept of ship performance monitoring. The new web service, NAPA Fleet Intelligence, will offer quick and easy access to high-accuracy performance monitoring for any vessel, regardless of ownership or charterer. For charterers and cash-strapped owners, it will deliver simple, transparent, affordable and accurate efficiency data to drive competitiveness and profitability with zero installation and zero disruption to operations.

Available through a scaling subscription depending on the number of ships customers require data on, NAPA Fleet Intelligence delivers voyage-by-voyage analysis of fuel efficiency for any conventionally powered vessel dating back as far as January 2015.

It combines vessel design information with remote-sensed data such as AIS, chart data and real-time environmental data, incorporating algorithms and hydrodynamic calculations developed by NAPA’s in-house ship operations data and analytics experts based on detailed ship performance models for each vessel type. The final report shows voyage-by-voyage data on the route taken, speed profile and fuel efficiency, as well as what the optimised speed profile would have been so that customers can improve the next voyage.

NAPA Fleet Intelligence reports have been verified against real-world ship performance data collected by NAPA’s on-board vessel performance monitoring systems, and accuracy was found to average around 95%. This level of accuracy will help owners, operators and charterers to quickly assess fleet efficiency and make confident, informed decisions on how to improve it further. The data received can be used for a variety of functions; for instance, tracking fuel consumption, evaluating a ship’s operational performance, or evaluating the effect of environmental conditions.

Naoki Mizutani, Executive Vice President of NAPA Shipping Solutions commented: “Charterers, shipowners and managers have to resolve dozens of conflicting priorities on a daily basis. Productivity, efficient operations, transparency and close scrutiny of costs are more important than ever. Yet, for owners with limited liquid assets and charterers with short term contracts to it is neither easy nor cost-effective to install and implement on-board performance monitoring. By ensuring highly accurate ship efficiency data is accessible with a very low barrier to entry, requiring only a web browser and a subscription, NAPA Fleet Intelligence will democratise the use of ship performance data across the industry.

“We see this as a game changer, making the shift to data-driven business decisions possible for any maritime business, which is in line with our mission to improve safety and efficiency of the whole industry.”

Pekka Pakkanen, Director of Development, NAPA Shipping Solutions commented: “NAPA Fleet Intelligence uses public sources of vessel information as its core data with over 6.5 million voyages currently in its database and growing by more than 10,000 voyages every day. However, it is NAPA’s unique background in both ship design and ship performance modelling that means we can show a ship’s speed profile and fuel efficiency with a margin of error averaging 5%. Our databases and deep maritime domain knowledge have helped to develop a cloud-based efficiency data service that delivers huge value for the time and financial investment required.

“Our experts used detailed ship performance models as well as understanding from the machine learning employed by NAPA’s on-board dynamic performance model to develop highly advanced algorithms and hydrodynamic calculations. Running vessel design and remote sensed data through this unique process is what gives our customers accurate and verifiable results. For shipowners unable to raise the CAPEX for advanced on-board performance monitoring or for charterers with a wide fleet chartered for only a short time, this solution offers a useful alternative for controlling vessel efficiency and raising competitiveness and profitability.”