Lloyd’s Register has added to its growing list of maritime technology acquisitions with the announcement that it has taken a 50% interest in ISF Watchkeeper, a work and rest hours compliance software package from IT Energy Systems and Consulting Limited.
The acquisition will result in LR becoming a joint owner of ISF Watchkeeper with the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
ISF Watchkeeper was originally developed by ICS and IT Energy to help shipping companies comply with seafarers’ work and rest hours requirements from the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) and the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). The software is currently used to calculate rest hours and planning work schedules for approximately 180,000 seafarers, with access on the web, mobile devices, and through an API.
User data is also synchronised and compared against industry average non-conformance measurements for work and rest hours to allow for benchmarking.
“The addition of ISF Watchkeeper to the LR Digital Solutions business adds further to our existing complement of digital voyage solutions,” said Martin Taylor, LR Digital Solutions CEO.
“ISF Watchkeeper has the only comprehensive database of crew working practices and through this we will be able to provide detailed insights to help improve seafarer safety and efficiency at sea. The ISF Watchkeeper functionality will sit alongside the OneOcean platform and other LR solutions that are now present on half of the world’s SOLAS fleet.”
