Ship&Offshore | Issue 02/2017
Shipping faces disruptive change as digitalisation takes hold
Classification society DNV GL has launched a new industry data platform, Veracity, which it believes will help profitability in shipping and provide a catalyst for new business models through digitalisation. The concept, which DNV GL managers admit is still at an early stage, is based on the shared use of data across the Veracity platform. Over time, the data will improve in quality, enabling new opportunities for improving ship performance and safety, and cutting operating costs. Speaking at the London launch, Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, CEO of the class society’s maritime division emphasised the importance of embracing digitalisation so that the vast volume of data being produced and gathered by sensors on ships every day can be put to the best use. This, he said, would mean new connections between multiple stakeholders and data sets which would be integrated to add value. The data would then be quality-assured, secured and offered on a controlled access format to third parties who could run their own analytics to raise efficiency, improve industry protocols and reduce costs. Ørbeck-Nilssen gave one clear example of how “enriched” data could benefit ship operators. Through the Veracity data platform, he said, DNV GL’s maritime customers would be able to use predictive analytics to document compliance of main and auxiliary machinery and shipboard systems, thereby removing the need for calendar-based inspections. In fact, some original equipment manufacturers are already offering this type of service, but the CEO’s point was that the better the data set, the more reliable the predictive analytics would be.