Classification society ABS has published a new Guide for Smart Functions for Marine Vessels and Offshore Units (Smart Guide) to help marine operators to capitalise on their operational data and introduce ‘smart’ functionality to their activities.
The Smart Guide introduces a set of notations to help owners and operators qualify and utilise smart technologies, and to employ the analytics that they provide in proactively managing asset health and performance, so as to create a mechanism for improved uptime.
The approach laid out in the Guide applies a risk-informed set of prescriptive requirements for engineering review and survey of the smart technology applications available.
“Smart technology will be a key factor for industry sustainability in the coming years. Future adoption of smart technology and its ability to enable better decision making and continuous improvement will coincide with quickly changing environmental requirements,” said ABS Chairman, President and CEO Christopher Wiernicki.
“Smart technologies and how a vessel’s data is utilised to optimise performance can drive improved efficiency today and will be critical to meeting the reduced emissions requirements being developed by the IMO.”
The Smart Guide covers functions related to performance, health, and crew support. It also introduces three new notations that support the recognition of a vessel’s data infrastructure, as well as health monitoring functions, which can be utilised to support survey activity.
To support a streamlined integration of vendor products and services related to smart functionality, the Smart Guide also lays out a Product Design Assessment scheme, coupled with a Service Provider approval process, to support equipment manufacturers, shipyards, owners as well as third party software providers as they develop products and services for smart functionality for use onboard ABS-classed vessels.
