Leading technology group Wärtsilä has unveiled its Navi-Planner voyage planning and optimization solution, developed by subsidiary Transas to reduce the length of onboard voyage planning.
Making use of the connected ECDIS, increased connectivity provided by Wärtsilä’s solution is expected to cut voyage planning time from five hours to 30 minutes, as well as setting a minimum standard for navigational safety.
The new Navi-Planner, according to Wärtsilä, utilizes one of the world’s largest navigational databases and leverages technologies such as artificial intelligence to auto-create safe sail routes.
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In addition to this, the solution calculates weather optimization, supports hazard identification, creates a voyage plan, and provides the latest charts and data automatically.
Onshore fleet operators can also use the service to remotely monitor their vessels in real-time, allowing them to record navigational near misses and carry out more accurate investigations into incidents at sea.
Torsten Buessow, managing director of Wärtsilä's Transas business unit, made a statement: “The Wärtsilä Navi-Planner is a safe, type-approved, cyber-secure system that addresses complete voyage planning and optimization needs in a single service.
“It improves safety and provides fleet operators and crew with higher-level situational awareness. This is a retrofittable upgrade of any ECDIS allowing for integrated voyage planning and execution, today.”
A #SmartMarine future depends as much on data as it does on technology and alternative sources of energy. It also requires collaboration, knowledge sharing and new ideas, like we saw yesterday at #WartsilaHorizons in Oslo, Norway. https://t.co/cboKPIB9Qb pic.twitter.com/3vEI7QVCnM
— Wärtsilä Corporation (@wartsilacorp) June 4, 2019
It has also been emphasized that new information, such as port arrival data, will be seamlessly incorporated into the voyage plan in the future, enabling Wärtsilä’s Navi-Planner to adjust the route and speed of a vessel’s approach for “Just-in-Time” (JIT) operations.
Buessow added: “At Wärtsilä, we are not merely talking about the possibilities offered by digitalization, but actually utilising the latest technologies, including connectivity, IoT, machine learning, cloud computing, and cyber security measures to provide tangible improvements to the work of our customers.”
By increasing the intelligence of voyage planning, the maritime industry can take advantage of such benefits as improved safety, lower carbon emissions and significant savings through reduced fuel consumption.
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