It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, December 16, 2023
Rembrandt broke new ground with lead-based impregnation of canvas for The Night Watch
New research has revealed that Rembrandt impregnated the canvas for his famous 1642 militia painting ‘The Night Watch’ with a lead-containing substance even before applying the first ground layer. Such lead-based impregnation has never before been observed with Rembrandt or his contemporaries. The discovery, published today in Science Advances, underlines Rembrandt's inventive way of working, in which he did not shy away from using new techniques.
The surprising observation is yet another result from Operation Night Watch, the largest and most wide-ranging research and conservation project in the history of Rembrandt’s masterpiece. It resulted from advanced analysis of an actual paint sample taken from the historical painting. First author of the paper is Fréderique Broers, a researcher at the Rijksmuseum and PhD student with professors Katrien Keune (University of Amsterdam), Koen Janssens (University of Antwerp) and Florian Meirer (Utrecht University). Her research forms part of the research project 3D Understanding of Degradation Products in Paintings of the Netherlands Institute for Conservation+Art+Science+ (NICAS), funded by the Dutch Research Council NWO. Broers and coworkers employed a combination of x-ray fluorescence and ptychography to identify and visualize sub-microscale chemical compounds in the lower layers of the canvas. By sampling the small Night Watch paint fragment at DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Hamburg), they discovered the lead-rich layer below the quartz-clay ground layer of the canvas.
Protection against moisture
It was already known from earlier studies that Rembrandt had used a quartz-clay ground on the Night Watch. In earlier paintings he had used double grounds, consisting of a first ground containing red earth pigments followed by a second lead white containing ground. The large size of The Night Watch may have motivated Rembrandt to look for a cheaper, less heavy and more flexible alternative for the ground layer. Another issue he had to overcome was that the large canvas was intended for a damp outer wall of the great hall of the Kloveniersdoelen (musketeers’ shooting range) in Amsterdam. It had been reported that under humid conditions the common method of preparing the canvas using animal glue could fail. A contemporary source on painting techniques written by Théodore de Mayerne suggested impregnation with lead-rich oil as an alternative. This may have inspired Rembrandt for his unusual impregnation procedure to improve the durability of his masterpiece.
Computational imaging
The presence of this lead-containing ‘layer’ was discovered by the first-ever use of correlated x-ray fluorescence and ptychographic nano-tomography on a historical paint sample. This was performed at the PETRA III synchrotron radiation source at DESY. X-ray fluorescence is used to investigate the distribution of relatively heavy elements (calcium and heavier). Ptychography, a computational imaging technique based on experimentally obtained datasets, is capable of visualizing even the lightest elements and organic fractions.
Analysis of the micro sample taken from The Night Watch revealed that on the side of the sample closest to the canvas support a homogenous layer of dispersed lead was present in the ground layer. Since lead components were not to be expected in the quartz-clay ground layer, this was a rather puzzling observation. The results were then combined with the lead distribution map of the full Night Watch, obtained by X-ray fluorescence scanning of the painting in the Rijksmuseum’s Gallery of Honour. This map reveals the presence of lead throughout the painting and suggests application using large semi-circular brushstrokes, supporting the assumption that it results from an impregnation procedure. Even an imprint of the original strainer onto which the canvas was stretched when the preparatory layers were applied, is visible in the lead distribution map. This brings us yet another step closer to understanding Rembrandt’s creative process in painting The Night Watch, as well as its current condition.
Publication details
Fréderique T.H. Broers, Ige Verslype, Koen W. Bossers, Frederik Vanmeert, Victor Gonzalez, Jan Garrevoet, Annelies van Loon, Esther van Duijn, Anna Krekeler, Nouchka De Keyser, Ilse Steeman, Petria Noble, Koen Janssens, Florian Meirer, Katrien Keune: Correlated x-ray fluorescence and ptychographic nanotomography on Rembrandt’s The Night Watch reveals unknown lead “layer”. Science Advances, 15 December 2023. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj9394
Contact
Lead author: Fréderique Broers, F.Broers@rijksmuseum.nl
A PERMAFROST-CREATED A PINGO OR “ICE PIMPLE” IN THE NORTH SLOPE OF ALASKA. SCIENTISTS FROM SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES HAVE BEEN USING A FIBER OPTIC CABLE TO STUDY PERMAFROST IN THE ARCTIC SEAFLOOR TO IMPROVE THE UNDERSTANDING OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE.
CREDIT: PHOTO COURTESY SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Arctic is remote, with often harsh conditions, and its climate is changing rapidly — warming four times faster than the rest of the Earth. This makes studying the Arctic climate both challenging and vital for understanding global climate change.
Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are using an existing fiber optic cable off Oliktok Point on the North Slope of Alaska to study the conditions of the Arctic seafloor up to 20 miles from shore. Christian Stanciu, project lead, will present their latest findings on Friday, Dec. 15 at AGU’s Fall Meeting in San Francisco.
Their goal is to determine the seismic structure of miles of Arctic seafloor. Using an emerging technique, they can spot areas of the seafloor where sound travels faster than on the rest of the seafloor, typically because of more ice. They have identified several areas with lots of ice, said Stanciu, a Sandia geophysicist.
The scientists also used the cable to determine temperatures over the stretch of seafloor and monitored temperature changes over seasons. These data, unlike any collected before, were inserted into a computer model to infer the distribution of submarine permafrost, said Jennifer Frederick, a computational geoscientist.
“One of the innovations of this project is that we can now use a single fiber to get acoustic and temperature data,” Stanciu said. “We developed a new system to remotely collect both types of data using one fiber strand. We’re getting some interesting results.”
Permafrost and bouncing light
Like leftover roast turkey sitting in the back of the freezer since Thanksgiving, Arctic permafrost is a banquet just waiting to be thawed. Specifically, as the once-living matter that was frozen during the last ice age thaws, microbes begin to digest it and produce waste gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, Frederick said. Scientists are studying just how large a microbial banquet lies frozen in the Arctic and how large of an impact those gases could have on the global climate.
To study permafrost on the Arctic seafloor, the researchers used pulses of laser light shot down a submarine telecommunications fiber optic cable buried off the coast of Alaska, running north from Oliktok Point. Tiny imperfections in the cable caused light to bounce back to a sensor system. By capturing this light at two wavelengths, or colors, and comparing them, the researchers could determine the temperature of the cable every yard, Frederick said. This is called distributed temperature sensing.
By looking at light of a different wavelength the researchers could detect when the cable had been strained by a passing sound wave. This so-called distributed acoustic sensing provided information about the structure of the seafloor to depths of one to three miles, Stanciu said.
Using this method, the scientists believe they have identified the bottom of the seafloor permafrost at around a quarter of a mile deep. They also found another area with unusually large amounts of ice, possibly consistent with a pingo or “ice pimple,” a domed hill formed by ice pushing upwards, he added. The data analysis for the measurements was done principally by Sandia intern Brandon Herr.
“The fact that we can monitor the temperature continuously, we can now pick up changes from year-to-year and season-to-season,” Frederick said. “We’re specifically looking for unexplainable warm spots. We think we’ll be able to see areas of seafloor seeps — somewhat like springs coming out of the ground, except on the seafloor. We’re interested in them because they’re carriers of deeper, carbon-rich fluids and are an indication of warming and change.”
History and innovations
Sandia has been collecting climate data from northern Alaska for more than 25 years. The current research project started about a year ago and builds off prior work on the same fiber optic cable by Sandia geophysicists Rob Abbott and Michael Baker. This project is funded by Sandia’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development program.
One recent innovation from Stanciu’s team is a fully operational system that allows near-real time remote data collection. This minimizes time and cost of travel to Oliktok and the risk of losing data when the system is unattended, Stanciu said. Acoustic and temperature data cannot be collected at the same time, but one or the other now can be collected continuously.
One challenge the team solved during the first year of the project was determining how to calibrate temperature data from the fiber optic cable, Frederick said. Typically, distributed temperature sensing systems are built with self-check systems such as fiber that doubles back on itself for redundancy or with built-in thermometers. However, since the team is using a telecommunications dark fiber, they needed computational models to validate the seasonal temperature changes they detected. The data analysis for this was done principally by Sandia intern Ethan Conley.
Frederick uses the data from the distributed temperature sensing and the results from the distributed acoustic sensing modeling to provide constraints to a geophysical modeling code developed by Sandia. The code models liquids and gases flowing through soils underground. Frederick uses this code to model 100,000 years of geologic history for the studied stretch of Arctic seafloor, including the average temperature of the most recent ice age and how much the sea level has risen. The results of the model are maps of the current distribution of submarine permafrost.
Limitations of the interrogator system the team uses, including the power of the laser and sensitivity of the sensors, keep the scientists from collecting data more than 18-25 miles offshore, Frederick said. With improvements to the system, she hopes to push the distance out farther.
“This project has many different pieces,” Frederick said. “I’m looking at temperature and Christian is looking at acoustics to get a subsurface model. Really you need all of these pieces to say something about the larger picture of the current distribution of permafrost and whether we are seeing changes like seeps and how that plays into the larger greenhouse gas emissions picture. Being able to use new tools and push them to their extreme to see what we can learn is really cool.”
Innovative seafloor geodetic positioning model achieves centimeter-level precision
In a new study published on 04 December 2023, in the journal Satellite Navigation, researchers from Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping have developed a self-structured Empirical SSP (SESSP) approach to overcome these limitations. This novel method utilizes a three-parameter Empirical Temperature Profile (ETP) model, structured using Del Grosso's sound speed formula, to create an Empirical Sound Speed Profile (ESSP).
This novel method creates an ESSP, effectively circumventing the need for traditional, costly in-field SSP measurements. The SESSP approach is distinguished by its two-tiered optimization process: the first level stabilizes the ETP model parameters, while the second ensures high-precision positioning in relation to sound speed variations within the ESSP framework. This unique model enables the simultaneous estimation of both ESSP parameters and seafloor geodetic coordinates. Central to the SESSP method is the use of a ray-tracing positioning model, enhanced by the integration of B-splines to accurately characterize acoustic delays caused by variations in sound speed. The approach's efficacy was rigorously tested through long-term seafloor geodetic array observations, confirming that the two-level optimization could match the positioning accuracy of traditional in-field SSP methods, with only minimal discrepancies in both horizontal and vertical coordinates. This breakthrough in seafloor geodetic positioning methodology marks a paradigm shift, offering a more practical, cost-effective alternative for high-precision seafloor monitoring and vastly expanding the potential for global seafloor geodesy applications.
The SESSP model's success in providing centimeter-level precision in seafloor positioning holds great promise for various applications. It can significantly enhance the monitoring of tectonic movements and crustal deformations in submarine regions, leading to better understanding and prediction of seismic activities. Moreover, this technology can be instrumental in oceanographic research, marine resource exploration, and environmental monitoring, offering a more comprehensive understanding of our planet's underwater landscapes.
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (41931076); Laoshan Laboratory (LSKJ202205100, LSKJ202205105); The Special Fund of Chinese Central Government for Basic Scientific Research Operations (AR2115).
For the first time, a U.S. Navy submarine has tested an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that can leave and re-enter the sub through a torpedo tube. The capability to deploy a drone through an existing hatch creates new opportunities for surveillance, scouting and other missions.
The Navy's submarine community has been testing a variant of the REMUS 600 military/civilian UUV for some time using a drydeck shelter and divers for launch and recovery. However, the number of subs in the Navy inventory that can carry a drydeck shelter is finite, and the launch and recovery procedure is operationally cumbersome, so the service has an interest in developing a variant that can go in and out of a torpedo tube. This would make the device usable across the fleet, on any sub in service, without the extra hassle of stopping and deploying divers each time it is used. The only challenge is threading a torpedo-size drone back through a torpedo-sized hole from the outside.
“While the submarine is moving, the UUV has to find that torpedo tube and drive in,” top submarine warfare officer Rear. Adm. Doug Perry told USNI last year. “We expect in the very near future we will have that system operational.”
Like the Navy's existing Razorback and Kingfish UUVs, this new system is based on the REMUS 600, a widely used platform designed by Woods Hole and currently built by Huntington Ingalls. The underlying platform is designed to operate in 600 meters of water and support high-power-demand payloads like sonar systems. The rated endurance of the civilian version is about 24 hours at about five knots.
Appropriately, the new version will be named the Yellow Moray, after an eel known for navigating in and out of holes in reef rocks. The system was tested fully from launch through recovery for the first time last week, according to the development team at Connecticut-based Submarine Readiness Squadron 32.
The trials took place aboard the USS Delaware, a Virginia-class attack sub commissioned in 2020. Supporting partners included Woods Hole's Oceanographic Systems Lab, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Huntington Ingalls and the UUV specialists of Submarine Force Pacific's Unmanned Undersea Vehicles Squadron One.
Sailors and engineers loading the UUV through the USS Delaware's torpedo loading hatch (USN)
The UUV stowed in a torpedo rack aboard USS Delaware (USN)
The UUV prepared for launch (USN)
Photos released by the Navy show the UUV delivered and loaded aboard USS Delaware in a stainless cylinder, like an all-up round, using the same handling equipment employed to move and stow torpedoes. According to the squadron, the launch and recovery test was successful.
If the Navy succeeds with Yellow Moray, it could be deployed fleetwide. Rear Adm. Robert Gaucher of Fleet Forces Command told Defense News recently that there is a plan to begin "putting these capabilities on every submarine" starting in 2024.
One Workboat Code to Simplify Safety Rules and Support New Technology
A new workboat code from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) comes into force today (13 December), drawing together regulations into a single document to underpin safety while supporting the industry to advance technology.
Designed to be more straightforward, Workboat Code Edition 3 includes the world’s first maritime safety legislation for the development of remotely operated unmanned vessels and workboats using alternative fuels.
Previously, operators needed to consult different codes, depending on their vessel's age and specifications. The new, unified version places these sets of requirements into a single publication.
The workboat sector is vital to sustaining a mix of key economic activity such as ports, gas and oil installations, and wind farms.
Extensive consultation across the industry has also helped shape the new code which will provide the legal framework for certification of the UK’s fleet of commercial support craft.
Maritime Minister Lord Davies said: “Protecting our seafarers remains our utmost priority, which is why we regularly review safety regulations to ensure they stay current. It’s not enough to make sure regulations are up to scratch – they need to be accessible and easy to understand. That is why the MCA has merged the three necessary regulations into one easy to access document so workboat owners and operators can understand the safety requirements expected of them while preparing the sector for emerging technologies in an ever-evolving maritime landscape."
MCA Chief Executive Virginia McVea said: "Months of consultation, study and refinement have delivered a unified set of clear workboat rules that operators can rely on to run their activities safely and securely. I’d like to thank the work boat industry for the sustained engagement and patience that helped us achieve this together. By covering advances in technology, the document will help inspire confidence in new vessels. Doing so strengthens the international reputation of the UK flag, attracting new customers and enhancing our influence as a leading maritime nation. We now have a code that is more easily accessible, simpler to understand and better able to drive forward the safety and prosperity of the UK’s workboat sector and wider marine economy.”
If there is anything that offshore ships, e.g. for the oil and gas industry, have in common, it is the complexity. Think about an offshore support vessel, a platform supply vessel, and a rig support vessel - all complex ships and often one-offs. Building on the knowledge of previous ships is not always possible, simply because new innovations need to be developed.
“The risks of new construction projects for these types of ships are huge as they involve many hundreds of millions,” explains Geert Schouten, director of Shipbuilder. “At the same time, I still see far too much hand work in these kinds of projects, like entering and managing requirements in Excel files, which implies enormous risks and additional work that can be avoided.”
In this article, we will delve deeper into the question of how risks during the construction of offshore ships for the oil & gas industry can be reduced.
Ships for oil and gas industry: Astronomical amounts of data
Let's first look at the amount of data that is required to build a complex ship: the amount of data circulating at shipyards before and during construction is huge. Geert explains: “Take a pipelayer, for example, a common ship in the oil and gas industry. Due to the complexity of a pipelayer, the documentation during construction consists of tens of thousands of documents and some of them easily contain 1,000 pages, including requirements and IO listings. In turn, these documents also refer to documents containing rules & regulations, standards and drawings. And speaking of the latter, a shipbuilding project like this easily has 15,000 drawings. Adding that up, such a complex project consists of 630 million data elements. Who will monitor this? Let me be clear: nobody can. It is naive to think that people will read all those pages without running a single risk. You need other solutions for such a project to be successful.”
Shipbuilding: risks in texts of offshore ships for the oil and gas industry
Keeping an overview is not the only challenge, according to Geert: “Also think about a consistent provision of information. I take drawing up a set of requirements of a pipework, as an example. I regularly come across a requirement in the oil and gas sector such as pipes should preferably be bent instead of using set-up bends. My first question is: what does 'preferably' mean? Does it have to do with a specific situation? And what kind of set-up bends are we exactly talking about if they are used anyway? I could go on and on, and my list with questions would become infinite. In the end, it may lead to a lot of problems, because a set of requirements of a pipework is only a small part of the total set of requirements of an offshore vessel. All inconsistencies in the documentation together can therefore result in avoidable failure costs, and may be decisive whether a ship can be delivered successfully and without additional work.”
Oil companies can take a leaf out of the Dutch navy book
In this article we are looking for an answer to the question of how risks in the oil & gas industry can be avoided. What is the solution? Geert: “Oil companies can take a leaf out of the Dutch navy book. Naval vessels are extremely complex ships and due to the high costs, the risks are huge. And it is exactly these risks that the Dutch navy now has a grip on through innovative digitalization processes. With our shipbuilding software Shipbuilder, all data elements are linked. Inconsistencies are filtered and must be adjusted. This requires efforts at the front end and during construction which will largely pay off because the risks are immediately identified and can be eliminated at the front end. In my opinion, oil companies should immediately embrace such systems. What’s more, the use of digitalization enables them to work faster and develop more innovations. You can start simply by making document management and approval processes, data-driven. That alone provides huge benefits compared to using solutions such as Sharepoint or Excel.
Digitalization: 30% fewer risks & more innovations
So, inconsistencies can be avoided with the correct use of digitalization. From customer experience, we know that this can easily decrease by 30 percent. But that's not all. Geert: "I like to use our customer Ulstein as an example. Because they have their information in Shipbuilder as knowledge, they don’t need to reinvent the wheel with every project. For example, they can draw up technical specifications in a few days, whereas this used to take weeks. Data is knowledge and making it centrally available for reuse saves a lot of time. At the same time, consistency increases to 100%. We also see that our users reduce the time to find the right information by 80 percent. The advantage is obvious. There is no time left to work on real innovations. So, there is good news for the oil and gas industry: companies that implement digitalization well, avoid risks, and are more innovative at the same time.”
This article is sponsored by Shipbuilder. For more information, please visit www.shipbuilder.nl
Maritime Pioneers Show How Digital Collaboration Can Work
[By Laurent Hentges, Vice-President, Digital Solutions & Transformation, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore]
It should be viewed as an opportunity that shipping is simultaneously confronting the challenges of digitalization and decarbonization. The former can enable the latter, but to fully achieve its potential we need to break technical, legal, financial and cultural barriers, according to new research from Bureau Veritas and Thetius.
Shipping is responsible for nearly three percent of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions and faces some imminent, mandated deadlines for reducing its contribution to climate change. Bringing the industry to net zero is a challenge far beyond what any individual company can achieve on its own.
Change of this magnitude requires collaborative effort and digitalization is a key enabler — potential emissions reductions of up to 15 percent can be achieved through interpretation and use of the right data. Some industry pioneers are already leading the way and collectively reaping the benefits.
But, as detailed in Common Interest, a new white paper written by Thetius and commissioned by Bureau Veritas, to expand this success to the industry as a whole, we need to address some major obstacles.
The potential of data
Success at scale requires competing parties to recognize unifying goals and accept more data sharing, enabling better decisions and reducing, for instance, port waiting times.
To begin with, we need to define which data is useful, and then decide how we use it.
The potential of data breaks down into distinct areas. Starting with the vessel itself, applications from companies such as NAPA provide performance models based on a ship’s propulsive characteristics, hull form and dimensions, and the effects of biofouling. That knowledge drives fundamental design choices as well as operational best practices including voyage optimization.
For collaboration to work, stakeholders have to speak the same data ‘language’. Companies such as Opsealog (which has identified a collective €2.4 trillion opportunity from collaborative decarbonization) and OrbitMI have sought to bring manual processes, such as the updating of ships’ logs, into the electronic realm. This has the effect of standardizing entry, removing human subjectivity, and making data more accessible in order to extract insights that can boost efficiency.
At sea, there have been numerous attempts to tackle the “rush to wait” phenomenon, and they all require data. The consortium-led Blue Visby solution, for example, uses a digital platform to assign optimal arrival times to otherwise unconnected ships heading for common destinations, together with a contractual architecture and a sharing mechanism to encourage adoption.
Ports have also been busy looking at ways to enable “Just in Time” (JIT) arrivals by doing so in a digital environment. The Singapore MPA’s digitalPORT@SGTM has taken a phased approach to JIT harmonization of port arrivals. This has included setting up common APIs for all users and led to Singapore and China piloting data exchanges of 25 types of ships certificates for port clearance and state control.
Addressing key challenges
While the potential of digital collaboration is clear, Common Interest describes a “network optimization problem” where numerous issues stand in the way of change. The report identifies four main challenges to effective data sharing and progressing both decarbonization and digitalization: competition laws; data siloes; cultural and behavioral resistance; and cost.
For a start, many businesses remain reluctant to openly share data, although sharing some data with trade partners/the wider supply chain is increasingly common and enables competitive advantage to be retained. However, challenges arise where international trade bodies prohibit anti-competitive agreements, even where decarbonization is the aim. Successive legislative updates are providing greater clarity, but currently, it is recommended that legal advice be sought before entering any data-sharing or collaborative arrangements.
Siloing — the collection of data without a cohesive integration strategy, or its storage/control by a single entity in a way that makes it inaccessible to others — can needlessly restrict access even for those with legitimate interests. Liberating data has time, effort and cost implications, and there is the potential to introduce errors when syndicating. The first step is getting data onto common platforms. Market-ready solutions exist that can do this and the use of standardized exchange mechanisms is becoming increasingly common.
Addressing cultural and behavioral resistance requires effective change management. Pragmatism and adaptability are key to understanding how strategic objectives will influence frontline operations. A two-way dialogue is especially important in digital technology design; a 2022 Thetius survey found that 40 percent of crew members who worked at sea with digital technology did not believe that it had been optimized for their needs.
The cost of data gathering, storage, processing and sharing is another potential obstacle, but this can be significantly reduced if suitable market-ready solutions are used. Furthermore, digital technologies offer significant returns on investment — up to 81 percent, according to Lenovo — and maritime-focused studies have shown that 71 percent of shipowners/managers see cost reduction as a prime driver of digitalization.
Next steps
In a commercial capacity, shipping is already experienced in trading under bilateral contractual arrangements. P&I clubs, slot-sharing and tanker pools demonstrate how mutual interest has prevailed, and over 95 percent of East-West containership capacity is controlled through alliances.
Now, we have to translate that collaborative mindset into new areas. We should start by leveling the technological playing field, ensuring that digitalization does not just remain the preserve of the most resource-rich carriers.
Today, the proliferation of Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite technology is fuelling demand for access to new digital products and services at sea. Take-up is accelerating — according to Euroconsult, there were 37,000 VSAT-equipped vessels in operation in 2022, up 42 percent from 2018, and it predicts that 90,000 vessels will be equipped by 2032. Meanwhile, Low Earth Orbit satellite constellations such as Starlink and OneWeb will further underpin opportunities for more sophisticated maritime data-driven services.
Levelling-up includes continuing roll-out of high-speed maritime connectivity, and we need to look at how and why we do things. ‘Sail fast then wait’, for instance, comes from an age when vessels could be out of communication for several weeks – and today the practice is still incentivized by contractual arrangements.
Perpetuating older practices makes diminishing sense, especially when technology exists to change things for the better.
Delivering realities
Undoubtedly, the global shipping industry is committed to making up lost ground when it comes to digitalization. However, complex problem-solving relies on converting data into insight and then into action, and we have to recognize shipping’s vastness and complexity.
In an industry where 80 percent of data goes unused, 80 percent of ports still rely on manual, analogue processes to manage day-to-day tasks, and 70 percent of the addressable fleet is owned by companies operating fewer than 15 vessels, consolidating data and sharing insight throughout the ecosystem is key.
As Common Interest shows, the time, technology, and trading environment are right to use data collaboratively to evolve and grow. Shipping can choose to achieve its goals for decarbonization and modernization not as a regulatory box-ticking exercise, but as a proactive, future-facing, and responsible industrial sector.
Laurent Hentges is Vice-President, Digital Solutions & Transformation, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore
Op-Ed: With Digitalization, the Human Role in Shipping is Changing
The systems and algorithms that will power up vessel efficiency can already ingest and process data faster than humans, says Silverstream's Nick Chrissos.
When it comes to data and digitalization, the shipping industry is following the well-established path of other sectors that have successfully incorporated technology and harnessed its potential for business advancement, says Nick Chrissos, Chief Digital & Information Officer of Silverstream Technologies.
The shipping industry now widely acknowledges the significance of the digital journey and the potential of data. The surge of interest in digital solutions in recent years indicates a shift from viewing data as ‘nice to have’ to recognizing it as a vital catalyst for driving industry transformation. It's no longer a matter of whether the industry will embrace digitalization and data, but rather when and how rapidly it will do so.
From costs to regulatory compliance, there are several influential factors driving this digital transformation and, in turn, the decarbonization transition. The upcoming European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) spans both. Starting on January 1, 2024, the EU ETS puts a cost on emissions from commercial ships of 5,000 GT or more that call at EU ports. Initially, 40 percent of emissions are in scope, quickly ramping up to 70 percent for 2025, and to 100 percent for 2026 onwards. When factoring in this cost on emissions – and not to mention the additional extra costs that will come as regulation ramps up – the value proposition for clean and digital technologies, and the importance of leveraging data, is clearer than ever.
In this era of multi-tiered and complex climate regulations, actionable data has become a driving force behind both the industry's digital transformation and its decarbonization agenda. As a result, we are transitioning from an era where data was collected and stored passively, often leading to valuable insights being overlooked or forgotten, to a phase where data is being actively leveraged to inform business decisions and strategies.
Raising the roof
Looking specifically at clean technologies, in simple terms, data can and will be used by clean technology manufacturers to raise both the floor and ceiling of fuel-saving potential. Like the intelligent systems within modern cars that tune the vehicle’s engine as it drives, maritime clean technologies will learn and respond to their environment and operate in a way that ensures maximum efficiency.
Because clean technologies are deeply integrated into a vessel, there is the potential for them to identify and unlock efficiencies that others may not even know exist. In other words, they become active and intelligent solutions to maximize the performance of a ship.
The integration of Silverstream’s air lubrication system within the vessel’s ecosystem, for example, provides us with insights into a ship’s hydrodynamic performance. We can harness data from our system, as well as multiple sensors around the vessel, to gain an in-depth understanding of air lubrication technology and identify factors that could influence the ship’s overall performance.
It is also key to accurately calculate, measure, and report the efficiency level and decarbonization impact of clean technologies. This has always been a priority for Silverstream, and our air lubrication system reduces average net fuel consumption and GHG emissions by 5-10 percent. It does this by releasing a carpet of air under the ship’s hull to reduce the frictional resistance between the hull and the water.
Since its inception, Silverstream has only ever claimed system performance that we can prove. However, the digitalization of clean technology will allow for even more precision when sharing performance data. Monitoring and measuring performance data, as well as system health, will be an integral component of not just our clean technology, but all clean technologies, in the near future.
New thinking
The digitalization and data evolution is underway, but thinking about clean technologies in this way will require two key shifts in sentiment for shipping. These shifts are Silverstream’s big prediction for the next phase of maritime digitalization.
First, we will have to become acquainted with the human role changing, and with crew effectively being removed from active decision-making on some tactical elements of ship operation. The systems and algorithms that will power up vessel efficiency (and indeed routing, navigation, berthing and more) are already at the point where they ingest and process more information than a human can comprehend. Optimizing clean technologies even further will require trust in the machine learning (and soon-to-be artificial intelligence) systems that underpin them.
Secondly, and more significantly, shipping will have to change its technology outlook. Currently, technology – whether physical or digital, traditional or innovative – is generally seen as a means to fulfill the requirements of today, not to anticipate the future.
This is something that Silverstream has observed and educated the industry on with respect to proven clean technologies. Air lubrication is seen increasingly as a mainstream solution that helps operators keep their vessels flexible to the demands of the future, as well as improve efficiency today. We can collectively now do the same thing by applying data to all clean technologies.
We must continue to elevate our thinking about what proven technologies can do for ships, and develop a holistic vision of their impact. Fuel bills are cut, and emissions are reduced, certainly, but these technologies can be an even deeper enabler of change for shipping companies. Getting there is going to require a change in how we think about technologies and their impact on operations – and placing more trust in shipping’s digitalization pathway as a vector for genuine, lasting change.
Nick Chrissos is the Chief Digital & Information Officer of Silverstream Technologies.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.
MSC Invests with Adani in Second Indian Terminal to Grow Regional Business
The Ennore Terminal is located on India's east coast near Chennai (Adani)
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company through its Terminal Investment Ltd. (TIL) subsidiary is acquiring a stake in a growing terminal operation on the east coast of India. The investment complements a decade-long investment in a port in northwest India and the shipping company’s strategy to expand operations on the subcontinent.
India’s private port operator Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone reports it has entered into an agreement to sell a 49 percent stake in the Adani Ennore Container Terminal to the MSC subsidiary for approximately $30 million. The deal valued the operation located approximately 20 miles to the north of Chennai at approximately $145 million. Adani will continue to own 51 percent of the terminal after the closing which is expected in the first quarter of 2024.
Ennore is a modern terminal facility located on the Bay of Bengal with the capacity to handle approximately 800,000 TEU annually. In the first eight months of FY 2024, the port has handled 450,000 TEU, an increase from the total of 550,000 for the entire last fiscal year. Adani has a concession for the terminal until 2044.
Adani says in partnership with MSC they plan to expand the operations at the port. It is well suited with congestion-free access to major highways and roads and an intermodal connection to the rail system. Adani’s plans call for increasing the terminal which has an approximately 1,300-foot berth to have a capacity to handle 1.4 million TEU annually.
MSC invested in 2013 with Adani in the CT3 Container Terminal at Mundra Port, the largest private commercial port in India. Located in the northwest of India, MSC has used the port to grow operations in the region. MSC has developed the use of the port for transshipments helping to grow volume at the Mundra terminal. Last month, the terminal reportedly surpassed 300,000 TEU, its biggest-ever monthly volume.
TIL was started in 2000 by the Aponte family to secure container terminal capacity in the major ports serviced by MSC, the majority owner and main client of the company. The company now has operations at more than 70 terminals in 31 countries. It operates terminals ranging from Long Beach, California to Antwerp and Le Harve, as well as Saudi Arabia and Singapore. MSC is also currently in process on a deal to invest in the operator of the terminals in Hamburg, Germany taking a 49 percent stake and managing the company with the City of Hamburg.
MSC is moving aggressively to expand all parts of operations including its shoreside businesses. The company believes that securing increasingly restricted terminal capacity is critical to the development of its core container shipping business.
