Interview: Gaining Competitive Edge by Optimizing Maintenance

In an ever more competitive maritime market, shipowners need to know how to make the best out of emerging technologies so as to cut costs and ensure efficiency. However, as technology makes strides toward digitalization, it becomes increasingly challenging to discern what data to use in order to predict costs and performance reliability.

What is more, as engines, propulsion and automation systems on board grow in complexity, the technical knowledge of maintenance service providers is becoming critical as a supplement to ship crews’ own competences. As a result, shipping companies are looking more for opportunities to outsource maintenance to service experts.

Finnish provider of lifecycle power solutions for the marine and energy markets Wärtsilä believes that digitalization will definitely cause a shift in how maintenance is conducted in the future, as smart technology is already being used to enhance services in the shipping industry.

World Maritime News spoke with Mr Tomas Hakala, Vice President, Services, Solutions Management, Wärtsilä about optimized maintenance solutions offered by the company enabling ship owners and operators to gain a competitive edge.

WMN:  What are the key areas that you see potential in for companies’ revenue increase in relation to optimizing maintenance?

Hakala: “Optimizing maintenance gives certainty to operations. This means that the full capacity can be sold as the maintenance requirements can be foreseen and maintenance operations can be planned and executed in a fashion where they don’t cause down time or off hire.”

WMN: Once optimization is introduced, how soon can companies start reaping the benefits?

Hakala: “Normally this can be seen already with the first major overhauls. But when it comes to unscheduled maintenance and the knowledge of these, it will be visible immediately.”

WMN:  How much can maintenance optimization increase companies’ profits percentage-wise?

Hakala: “This is highly dependent on the type of vessel, charter and day rates. With almost all installations the biggest impact on the profitability is lost availability, which leads to lost day rates and off hire. With the avoidance of these we talk about full percentage points, not fractions.”

WMN: Could you describe a bit more the process of maintenance optimizing? Once a company decides to move forward, what are the steps in deciding for the best solution? How is it determined?

Hakala: “Maintenance optimization starts with setting common goals to reach. After that, a company and installation-specific strategy is set. Then a classification society is contacted by our customer and the class-specific requirements (paperwork) are managed in cooperation with us as the OEM to qualify for condition based maintenance.”

WMN:  How many companies have opted for your maintenance optimization solutions and what has been the feedback so far?

Hakala: “Today, some 50 companies are using our maintenance optimization solutions under various types of agreements in about 270 of their ships. According to the feedback we have received, these solutions have reduced operating costs and increased the reliability of operations of those installations.”

WMN:  Have new emission regulations introduced since the beginning of this year influenced maintenance optimization and, if so, in what way?

Hakala: “Emission regulations have no other direct influence than the fuel switching in different geographical areas of operation. This has introduced some modernization to fuel systems onboard. Scrubbers have also been installed but there has not been any major influence on maintenance optimization.”

WMN:  How would you describe the level of awareness of the benefits this approach offers? Is Wartsila doing anything in increasing the awareness?

Hakala: “There is awareness at the senior level, but the knowledge of the tangible actions and what can be achieved through them is sometimes lacking. Neither is this well-known at the operational level. To increase the awareness, we offer for example various Business White Papers and webinars and provide information in sales calls.”

WMN:  What maritime sector has been the most active in terms of optimizing their fleet maintenance?

Hakala: “LNG carriers have been very active. Also modern installations that utilize the most recent technology with complex installations, such as cruise and offshore ones, have showed great interest in our optimizing solutions.”

WMN: In a time of ever developing digitalization and data influx, what is required to be up to date with the latest developments in this field? What is the best approach the companies should take?

Hakala: “It requires knowledge. A company has to have highly skilled personnel. Willingness to accept change is also necessary. The best approach is to partner with service providers who are frontrunners in these areas.”

WMN:  As systems onboard grow in complexity, what does this mean for the crew and their training? Do you offer any training courses to help them with the usage?

Hakala: “Training in operating onboard systems is as essential as it is with basic maintenance techniques. We do offer training to customer personnel. Complexity also creates the need for having highly skilled personnel available to take care of the systems, preferable remotely to keep it cost efficient.”

WMN:  How reliable are maintenance optimization measures and have there been any erroneous estimates in terms of predicting costs?

Hakala: “Some of the information and know-how involved is not new, but exists already. However, the automation and digitalization of this information makes it efficient, accessible, scalable and available in real time. Like in any other development, there is a learning curve, but we have reached a status were we as OEMs are willing to guarantee the performance of our services.”

WMN:  What are the key challenges/risks when deciding to optimize maintenance efforts?

Hakala: “The challenges we often meet are ship charter schedules and timing of the work needed to fulfill the requirements of classification societies. It’s also a challenge to get the crew introduced to the new way of working. There are risks involved in when increasing the time between major overhauls and the customer has to make sure it is carried out in a safe way. That’s why an OEM is the best way forward: we can analyze and inspect component condition since we have designed the equipment.”

WMN: In conclusion, what direction is maintenance optimization expected to take and what could be the ultimate goal? A complete automation of ships without crews?

Hakala: “Current and future trends include digitalization and real time data analytics. We can expect to see availability and reliability of installations at a level far beyond what we see today. For many reasons, including legislation, we will not see unmanned ships tomorrow, but in the future we certainly will. We shall see optimized and minimized crews, with high availability and reliability, operating at optimum cost.”

World Maritime News Staff; Images: Wartsila