In today’s edition of the “Start-up of the Week,” International Finance will talk about We4Sea, which monitors global shipping (maritime commerce) based on fuel efficiency. The venture has established its expertise in combining data from different sources to give a full insight into the shipping operations.
We4Sea uses data sources including ships’ sensor data, position data and data on weather conditions (currents, waves, wind), before combining the numbers and preparing the real-time overview of the shipowners’ operations. Furthermore, the venture shows deviations from design conditions that impact fuel consumption.
“We4Sea has reinvented performance monitoring for ships, making fuel efficiency and emission reduction easy, fast and affordable. We provide real-time, accurate, and actionable performance insights for your fleet – without the need for hardware,” the venture stated.
Knowing About The Company In Detail
The founders, Michiel Katgert and Dan Veen, met at TNO, the Dutch Organisation of Applied Scientific Research, in 2016, where they were working together on a European project, using big data analytics to enhance shipping efficiency.
Backing the technology and their approach, the duo launched their business idea at Venture Scan, an internal TNO project to validate their plan. After winning the Venture Scan, Katgert and Dan Veen were granted a spot on the growth programme Port Innovation Lab, hosted by Accelerator YES!Delft. Successfully making their presence felt, the duo decided to start We4Sea.
”We are on our journey with the aim to make ships more efficient. A goal in which we look for strong cooperation with our customers. We want to do so in a way that suits our informal and no-nonsense style. We are in this world with the ambition to make a difference in shipping efficiency. Together with you, we will make shipping more efficient, cleaner, cheaper and sustainable. We solve the technology behind efficiency, you get the savings. We offer you our knowledge of ship propulsion systems, an up-to-date insight into innovative, new technologies, and a drive to improve shipping for both transporters and the climate. Together with our clients, we aim to save 1 million tons of CO2 emissions,” the venture remarked.
Meet We4Sea’s Breakthrough Technology
Maritime players have the option of installing sensors on board to monitor their vessels’ performances, but the procedure is both expensive and time-consuming. Also, apart from the drawback in the form of lack of historical data, sometimes, the sensors may not be able to gauge the impact of weather on a vessel’s performance.
“We developed a novel approach to performance monitoring, while quantifying the effects of weather. Using our unique, in-house developed Digital Twin concept, we now can monitor any vessel, any voyage, any period, in any weather. The good thing for charterers: we do not require any hardware on board. Within one hour, we can start tracking any vessel while considering all the critical parameters, such as weather effects, ship characteristics, drafts and speed,” stated We4Sea.
The start-up has its own treasure trove in the form of “four years of historical data,” for any vessel. The start-up uses the data (data on historical vessel position, speed, draft and heading, combined with weather data such as waves, currents and wind), without even accessing the vessel at times, before creating a bespoke or benchmark vessel model (Digital Twin) that it then feeds with the data. The output of the model is what the start-up calls the “Achievable Performance,” the performance of the vessel assuming she is in new-built condition.
“When the noon-reported data is collected, we benchmark the Achievable Performance with the Reported Performance. For speed-instructed vessels, we can compare instructed speed and CP consumption with observed speed, while correcting for the effects of weather. This allows us to report CP performance on any voyage, no more bad weather days,” We4Sea commented.
The user, at the same point in time, can enjoy the benefits of a data-driven monitoring solution for vessels, without the need to install onboard sensors. The “Digital Twin” monitors the vessels in real-time, giving direct feedback on speed, weather and about 70 other KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). It also takes into consideration weather impact on consumption or speed. This unique tool enables performance assessments, fleet ranking and benchmarking of vessels irrespective of the weather conditions.
“Powered by our Digital Twin, the Speed Adviser informs you on the optimal speed to reach your destination, balancing route, ETA, charter rate and fuel costs. This can save 5 to 10% in voyage costs. We supply objective and detailed data, with up to 480 data points per day on speed, weather and vessel positions with over 95% global coverage, even in High Traffic Zones,” the start-up remarked.
Solutions For Chartered Fleets
We4Sea is supporting charterers in optimising the efficiency of their chartered fleet, while reporting real-time performance, by providing an objective, data-driven and real-time performance monitoring solution for chartered vessels, while eliminating the need to install onboard sensors.
The “Digital Twin” concept is providing a radical new way of performance monitoring for sea-going vessels in real-time, through a unique and scientifically supported, algorithm-based “Digital Twin” for every monitored vessel. The “Digital Model” has been fed with over 80 unique characteristics of the ship, with the help of real-time position and weather data, with up to 480 updates per day and greater than 95% global position coverage.
On average, the solution is ensuring a 3-5% improvement in operational efficiency, by introducing small changes like fixing better vessels, sailing at a more optimal speed and early detection of hull fouling and resulting cleanings.
As an example, for a chartered bulk carrier with 30MT daily consumption and 220 sailing days per year, every 1% of fuel savings generates over USD 47,000 in annual net savings per vessel. Based on an average of 3-5% savings per vessel, the annual net savings amount to USD 169,000-286,000 per vessel.
The charterers are detecting underperforming vessels in real-time, optimising efficiency during the voyage through We4Sea’s real-time speed advice, getting access to all the required data to substantiate performance claims, benchmarking noon-reported performance versus expected performance (for every voyage and all weather conditions), and last but not the least, creating pre-charter assessments to establish the commercial performance of any speed-instructed vessel.
We4Sea has now introduced a new “Pre-Charter Assessment” mechanism in the domain of the sea freight business, realising the importance of improving the performances of newly added time-chartered vessels. Fixing better vessels for the freighters’ long-term time-chartered fleet improves the ventures’ TCE (Time Charter Equivalent) by up to 5%, resulting in commercial gains of up to USD 200,000 annually using current market rates. The tool assesses a vessel’s performance before it’s even hired.
Benefits For Ship Owners Too
We4Sea is also supporting ship owners in optimising the efficiency of their owned fleet, while reporting real-time vessel performance. The “Digital Twin” is enabling many different services which would have otherwise been very time-consuming or downright impossible.
Ship owners are getting real-time and fact-based information before making decisions to improve vessel performance, optimise voyages, and benchmark vessel performance by correcting for weather impact without wasting much capital in onboarding traditional monitoring equipment.
Since the “Digital Twin” is eliminating the need for onboard hardware and sensors, there is no requirement for CAPEX (Capital Expenditure), port visits, or time off-hire as well. The tool enables full reporting on KPIs that matter to the ship owners, using We4Sea’s real-time dashboard.
The “Digital Twin,” which works based on over 30 real-time, objective, and accurate data sources, can also correct the data for weather impact on a vessel’s performance. Ship owners can also avail themselves of the “Digital Twin” through a flexible subscription instead of investing money in long-term contracts.