Hyundai Heavy Industries Debuts ‘Smart Ship’ Solution

South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) said it has developed proprietary ICT technology capable of realizing economical and reliable navigation and management of ships: Integrated Smart Ship Solution (ISSS).

HHI said the solution provides a wide range of ship information to operators, including optimal navigation routes and navigation speed along with a slope status of the front and back hull of a ship that minimize resistances a ship takes on voyage. ISSS is engineered to allow safer and more efficient management of ships by collecting and analyzing energy data and monitoring status of engines and propellers. According to HHI, the solution, which already completed field tests as well by being mounted on a 6,500 PCTC and a 250,000 DWT VLOC, is expected to cut annual operating cost by as much as 6 percent.

The shipbuilder said it expects the demand for smart ships to grow as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will introduce e-Navigation, a strategy to bring about increased safety of navigation in commercial shipping through better organization of data on ships by 2019.

Smart ship technology is a system that helps ships’ efficient operation by using ICT and big data. HHI developed the smart ship technology in 2011 and has applied the system to approximately 300 delivered ships so far. Moreover, in May this year HHI signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing a partnership in the smart ship sector with the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri).

Lloyd’s Register’s Luis Benito, Innovation, Strategy and Research Director, Marine and Offshore, said, “HHI’s technology seeks to align with delivering the key benefits we believe the maritime industry will most benefit from through the adoption of connected, digital and autonomous technologies as the next generation of shipping embraces digitalization. According to Clarkson Research, about 6,500 ships are to be ordered globally for the next five years. Considering the global shipbuilding market share HHI takes up now, ISSS is to be installed on approximately 700 ships for the comparable time period.”