Wärtsilä Voyage has signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to further strengthen their collaboration in smart port innovation and digitalisation, according to the company's release.
The main objectives of this strategic partnership are to initiate, develop and promote innovative solutions that accelerate digitalisation; foster interoperability in e-navigation and ship-to-shore secure data communications to enable port-to-port optimisation and establish reliable, cyber safe and cost-effective information exchange pathways between all ecosystem partners to increase operational efficacy.
The scope of the collaboration also covers the development and field-testing of intelligent vessel capabilities to improve interoperability of onboard and onshore systems for well-coordinated and sustainable operations.
In addition, Wärtsilä Voyage and MPA will assess data and cyber threats to vessels’ shipboard systems, ship-to-shore communications system and MPA’s JIT operations.
Increasing traffic, the pandemic, and the general unpredictability of weather conditions have acted as catalysts for ports to adopt digital technologies that help mitigate such disruptions.
This partnership builds on Wärtsilä Voyage’s recent successes as the technology provider has already deployed Navi-Port at many other major ports worldwide, including TangerMed, Hamburg Vessel Coordination Centre (HVCC), Port of Valencia, Port of Rijeka, and Bulgarian Ports.
Wärtsilä Voyage and MPA have a long-standing relationship built with a series of commercial and R&D initiatives over the years, such as the IntelliTug Project, next-generation navigational simulator for Centre of Excellence in Maritime Safety, a Ship Traffic Control Simulator, and a Full mission bridge simulator for enhancing the port’s training capabilities.
Singapore is the busiest transhipment hub in the world, and considering Asia has nine out of ten busiest ports in the world, this is also a crucial case that sets a precedent for other port authorities to have similar conversations.
As ship sizes and global traffic grow, congestion has become another major contributor to shipping emissions. As per industry estimates, bad planning, early arrivals, and the subsequent time spent waiting in ports mean that the industry is unnecessarily burning bunker totalling USD 18 billion annually – that is around 160 million tons of unnecessary CO2 expelled into the air.
Better ship-to-shore coordination and shortening port stays just by 10% will give a massive reduction in fuel consumption — a big low hanging fruit that is now being realised with the smart port technology and JIT solutions like Wärtsilä Navi-Port.
Wärtsilä in brief
Wärtsilä is a global leader in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. In 2020 Wärtsilä’s net sales totalled EUR 4.6 billion. Wärtsilä is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.