ABB Enhances Safety of Sovcomflot’s Arctic Fleet

ABB has won a contract to supply ABB Ability Remote Diagnostic Systems for Marine to eleven Sovcomflot vessels operating in the Arctic and Russia’s Far East, helping optimize safety and performance through 24/7 remote support.

Sovcomflot’s vessels will be among over 1,000 ships connected to ABB Ability Collaborative Operation Centers worldwide. From here, ABB experts monitor operational shipboard systems, coordinate remote equipment diagnostics and offer predictive maintenance services – 24/7. This can be especially crucial for vessels operating in remote areas. The recently inaugurated Marine Service Center in Murmansk, Russia, adds local language support into the offering, which is particularly relevant for customers such as Sovcomflot – Russia’s largest shipping company.

Sovcomflot, a leader in energy shipping, operates the world’s largest fleet of ice-going vessels powered by ABB’s Azipod electric propulsion. The contract with ABB covers eight shuttle tankers that serve some of Russia’s most significant export developments in a generation, Varandey, Novy Port and Prirazlomnoye. The other three ships are ice-breaking supply vessels deployed in the Sea of Okhotsk as part of the Sakhalin-1 project.

“Predictive monitoring of critical equipment onboard and maintenance support that is available 24/7 will be introduced seamlessly into Sovcomflot’s operations as part of our continuous commitment to enhancing vessel safety and reliability of vessel operations,” says Igor Tonkovidov, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating / Chief Technical Officer, Sovcomflot. “ABB has been integral to Sovcomflot’s success in serving major energy projects in the harshest environments possible. As ABB brings its digital and connected remote monitoring solutions to a new level, we see a good opportunity to make the most of them in our continuous drive to operational excellence.”

ABB Ability Marine Remote Diagnostic System (RDS) deploys sensor-driven onboard monitoring software that fully integrates with analytics ashore. ABB states that there are clear maintenance savings available to owners that commit to the RDS package as digitally connected on-duty engineers can solve cases remotely 24/7, thus reducing visits to vessels by 30%.