Having reliable data and knowing what to monitor is the key to improve vessel operations
The maritime business is constantly seeking to develop strategies designed to improve and optimize operations.
Monitoring onboard operations with digital tools ensures reliable data, which through analysis enables data-driven decisions. Setting up monitoring tools therefore allows shipowners to manage vessels in real time and improve performance.
By analyzing data on a regular basis, shipowners achieve an understanding of the onboard situation – including anomalies and inefficiencies. Ashore personnel can use this collected data to understand what’s working well and what is not on a single vessel or the entire fleet.
You can log and monitor a lot of information. In this article, we present the 7 most important things to monitor to improve performance with digital logbooks.
1. Highlight abnormal bilge and sludge production
The production of sludge mainly derives from your main engine, auxiliary machinery and handling of fuel oil. The sludge is stored in the tanks and can be discharged to shore or burned in the incinerator. Leakages of sea water and freshwater generate bilge.
Even if the bilge and sludge production is normal on board it is important that you know the base production. This way you can keep an eye on KPIs fundamental to understand anomalies onboard.
Typical sludge and bilge sources:
- Fuel oil purifiers
- Lube oil purifiers
Main engine scavenge drains - Main engine stuffing box
- Tray drains of oil machinery
- Pipelines and pumps
- Heat exchangers
- Fresh water generator
- Boilers
2. Understand the fuel quality based on desludging
Sludge generation in tanks is a result from the handling, mixing and pumping of heavy fuel oil and its quantity is strictly related to fuel quality.
Monitoring desludging activities and fuel consumption by the vessels allow you to understand the fuel quality. There is usually a greater quantity of sludge production if the quality of fuel oil being processed is decreasing.
