d’Amico Group to Open Fleet Operations Center in Rome

d’Amico Group will build a new fleet digital operating center in Rome, Italy that will help the dry cargo and tanker shipping company to boost efficiency and safety across its fleet through increased collection of performance details and data from its ships.

The new center, which is being created through a partnership with RINA and Telemar, is part of the trend toward increasing digitalization within the maritime industry. In addition to providing d’Amico Group with intelligence about operations on which to base strategic business decisions and operational improvements, the level of fleet information 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 center, using its sister company Marlink’s global, multi-band VSAT network. Marlink’s involvement with Telemar boosts expertise in cyber security and brings experience in ship to shore communications. d’Amico Group, meanwhile, will provide technical specifications and validation of the overall set-up for the system and in particular of the design of monitoring, layout and alerting rules.

“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 canter built around the ship owner,” said Salvatore d’Amico, Fleet Director at d’Amico Group. “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.”

The project officially kicked off in the beginning of May 2018, and it is expected the new operating center will be completed around the end of the year. 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.

For RINA, the FOC project means adding another 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 analytics capabilities to extract value and business insights from data collected.

Paolo Moretti, EVP Marine Strategic Development at RINA, said, “In today’s marine industry, digitalization is pivotal to improve efficiency and safety. This project will bridge digitalization, strategic decisions and operational excellence together.”

With its industry expertise and dedicated software resources, digitalization 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.

In addition to delivering fast, secure, digital, fully managed smart connectivity across the d’Amico Group fleet with Marlink, Telemar will securely link onboard operational technology to the digital framework. Combined, Telemar and Marlink bring expertise in navigation equipment and bridge electronics maintenance, which is evolving toward smart maintenance and connected assets management, to co-create with Rina and d’Amico suitable enablers of the new digital operating centers. Telemar and Marlink’s expertise will help ensure operations remain secure and protected from hackers. 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 synchronize with the control center once communications are restored.

Pasquale Golia, Technical Director of Compagnia Generale Telemar, said, “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.”