Centre of Operations Competence

The shipping community is currently paying a great deal of attention to better utilisation of operational data records. This is for a number of reasons;

• Ship-owners believe that recordings and analyses of operational data will help them to improve the safety and efficiency of their fleets.
• Ship-owners have introduced key performance indicators as a means of control
• Cargo owners require performance key indicators for verification of e.g. technical condition and associated documentation from the operations department
• Leading shipping companies are strengthening their environmental awareness in step with the increased attention being paid to this area by the authorities. This entails a need for systematic mapping and monitoring of their vessels’ environmental profiles.
• Operations departments in shipping companies are also focusing on performance monitoring.

A key factor in the successful utilisation of operational data records is the development of  methods and tools for the analysis of decision-support data. Shipping companies also need to increase their capacity for operational data analysis by training recruits and experienced people in their organisations.

These trends form the background for the decision of MARINTEK, NTNU  and DNV to launch the Centre of Operations Competence (COC). The COC will be a site on which ship-owners can replicate operational data for research and development purposes. This will give the shipping community an arena for the development of  decision-support algorithms for increased deployment of operational data records.

• COC will be an instrument for collecting operational data for:
  - Development of new methods (e.g.  aggregation of technical condition data)
  - Documentation and verification of the  actual condition of vessels (e.g. environmental profiles)
• COC will be an arena for cooperation between the shipping industry, university (NTNU) and maritime academics as a basis for:
  - Performing student projects (Ph.D, M.Sc)
  - Post-qualification training of operational personnel
  - Creating links between industry and  educational institutions.

The COC will consist of an array of activities as illustrated in the figure below.

Along with the establishment of joint industry projects, DNV, NTNU and MARINTEK will undertake to establish a KMB-project (a multi-year, strategic competence project) involving Ph.D. and post-doc-studies, with the aim of improving the theoretical foundations of developments in this area.

Contact at MARINTEK: Roar Bye

(This is an article published in MARINTEK Review No 3-June-2003)