New Quick Stowage Planning Software Showcased

IS Seacos Asia, a wholly owned subsidiary of INTERSCHALT maritime systems AG, Germany, welcomed 60 representatives of 30 companies from 5 different countries at their recent Singapore User Conference, where amongst others, StowMan[s] software was demonstrated.

Of particular interest, say the organisers, was the official premiere of the new StowMan[s] software which the believe opens up a new dimension in stowage planning, by significantly speeding the process up and efficiently optimizing it at the same time. It was developed in cooperation with Professor Rune Møller Jensen of the IT University of Copenhagen.

They explain that StowMan[s] makes it possible to more effectively plan stowage by taking into account trim by cargo instead of ballast water, for example, as well as load limits, hazardous goods handling, avoiding unnecessary restowage, and shorter port laytimes throughout the entire shipping route. StowMan[s] is a newly developed module that opens an entirely new dimension in stowage
planning. StowMan[s] reduces stowage planning to a matter of seconds

INTERSCHALT jointly worked on the development of StowMan[s] with Professor Rune Møller Jensen of the IT University of Copenhagen. The objective is to create a solution that will substantially simplify the work of stowage planners and save enormous costs, e.g. through reduced laytimes or by decreasing the volume of ballast water needed and replacing it with cargo.

What was especially impressive was the speed, as In front of visitors of the User Conference, Møller Jensen performed a stowage planning exercise using StowMan[s] with some 2,000 containers in a multi-port configuration, taking into account the optimum or desired trim, as little ballast as possible, and
compliance with all safety regulations - all in less than 60 seconds.  Normally this would take several hours to accomplish.

The software is due to be market-ready in the second quarter of 2014.