LNG Era for Big Boxships

Every shipping company strives to green operation nowadays. The more and more new vessels come to LNG fuel to reduce pollution as much as possible. German giant Happag-Lloyd was the first to announce the retrofitting of its 15,00 TEU containership to LNG operating vessel. As per contract signed between Hapag-Lloyd and Hudong HONDHOA Shipbuilding the conversion will be done at Shanghai-based shipyard and it's going to be the first experience with such a big ship. However, the fuel system is not going to be changed totally, it's going to become a dual fuel engine that is able to use low-sulphur fuel oil as well.

Internet of Things Platform

A new Internet of Things (IoT) platform has been developed for the Port of Rotterdam Authority, with the first application for hydro and meteo already having been put into operation.

The system uses an extensive network of sensors to provide accurate and up-to-date water and weather data particularly for the planning and shipping management.

The collaborating partners IBM, Cisco, Esri and Axians announced the construction of the IoT platform year ago and has now been delivered under the port authority’s direction.

Implemented generic building blocks offer the Port of Rotterdam a basis for rapid innovation with access to the latest technologies, including edge computing,artificial intelligence,  real-time analytics, hyper-precise data.

For example, sensors incorporated on and in quay walls, waterways, roads and traffic signs generate continued measurement data and these can communicate with other systems. This lays the foundation to support autonomous shipping in the Port of Rotterdam in the future.

Furthermore, the hydro/meteo system obtains tide height, tidal stream, salinity, wind speed, wind direction and visibility data via a combination of 44 sensors in the port.

This enables the application to contribute to reductions of waiting times and optimization of berthing, loading/unloading and departure times.

Navios Containers Reports 72 Pct Increase in Fleet Capacity

Monaco-based owner and operator of containerships Navios Maritime Containers has grown its TEU capacity by 72% since the end of 2017.

The company’s fleet increased from 21 to 30 vessels and now totals 152,821 TEU. This figure includes one containership to be delivered in Q1 2019.

The fleet growth has translated into a net income rise from USD 2.6 million to USD 12.7 million.

“I am pleased with the results for the full year and fourth quarter of 2018. For the full year, Navios Containers reported USD 69.3 million of adjusted EBITDA and USD 17.7 million of adjusted net income. For the fourth quarter, we reported USD 15.3 million of adjusted EBITDA and USD 2.4 million of adjusted net income,” CEO Angeliki Frangou stated.

Artificial intelligence in shipping industry

The Port of Rotterdam is investing in the development of Pronto-standardized application for data exchange on port calls.

Almost half of the shipping companies, terminals and other nautical service providers in the port use the system to plan, implement and monitor their activities during a port call.

Pronto uses artificial intelligence to predict vessel arrival times in the port. Artificial intelligence and huge data amount are enabling the arrival times of vessels in sea and inland ports to be predicted earlier and with increased precision.

Data sources include AIS and the port authority databases, including vessel arrival times at the loading platform. Port authority data scientists used the parameters to develop a self-learning computer model. Initially, this was fed with some 12,000 items of historical data. The computer recognized patterns in these, enabling it to learn to predict how much time a vessel needs to move from the loading platform to the berth.

As informed, using artificial intelligence has already reduced vessel waiting times in the Port of Rotterdam by 20 percent.

NYK Selling 50% of Cruise Business

Japanese shipping giant NYK will sell a 50% stake in its cruise subsidiary, NYK Cruises, to Anchor Ship Partners (ASP), a Japanese investment firm.

The deal features an agreement to jointly operate the cruise business.

NYK expects to see a gain of around JPY 9 billion (USD 81.9 million) in non-consolidated accounting and JPY 8 billion (USD 72.8 million) in consolidated accounting in Q4 of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.

“. . . it is best to develop the cruise business with ASP as a partner in order to further improve ASUKA CRUISE brand and sustain high-quality growth by investment to the cruise business in the future,” NYK said.