Predictive Maintenance: A Game Changer For Maritime

The maritime industry is the lifeblood of the global economy. According to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), around 90% of world trade is carried by sea. Thus, operations continuity is vital as unanticipated vessel downtime will cause operational disruption. It will be costly not only for the shipowners but for other key stakeholders in the supply chain as well.

Moreover, unplanned downtime costs billions in revenue per year for the world’s largest businesses, the maritime industry is no different. Unplanned downtime can cost up to $12 million per year for a drillship. A drillship alone costs $12 million. Imagine the total amount of money spent on unplanned downtime for the entire maritime industry.

Machine failure is one of the main causes of unplanned downtime. In fact, more than 70% of companies are not fully aware of when their equipment is due for maintenance or replacement. This is alarming as unexpected machine failures will lead to unplanned downtime and huge operational delays. This can be pretty costly.

Therefore, unplanned downtime can severely affect profits, competitiveness and reputation. To tackle the issue, you need a more strategic approach for vessel maintenance.

It is time to move into Predictive Maintenance.

What Is Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance, termed PdM, provides a ‘crystal ball’ solution to heavy machinery owners by predicting potential machinery failure or breakdown. The system monitors the machine health in real-time with various condition monitoring sensors. Based on past trends observed, the system can accurately predict the likelihood of a machinery malfunctioning. Prompts will be sent to the operational crews and necessary maintenance works can be arranged before the machine fails.

How Predictive Maintenance Works?

Predictive maintenance for maritime fleets relies on real-time monitoring, data analysis, and a proactive maintenance strategy. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

1. Data Collection

Sensors installed on ship machinery gather data on parameters like temperature, pressure, and vibration. This data is continuously transmitted to the predictive maintenance system.

2. Data Analysis & Machine Learning

Advanced algorithms analyze the data to detect patterns and predict equipment issues before they escalate. Over time, these algorithms improve, providing increasingly accurate insights for maintenance scheduling.

3. Alerts & Actions

When a potential failure is detected, the system sends alerts to maintenance teams with actionable insights. These alerts allow for timely intervention, minimizing disruption to operations and avoiding costly emergency repairs.

Why Predictive Maintenance Matters For Vessels

1. Optimal Maintenance Schedule

Often, vessel maintenance like hull cleaning and propeller polishing is based on routine or intuition, leading to unnecessary repairs and downtime. This not only wastes time and money but can leave crews without the right spare parts in case of unexpected breakdowns.

Using predictive maintenance, you can adopt a more proactive approach in maintaining your vessels. Using the insights derived, an optimal maintenance schedule can be planned. This is to allow maintenance to be done before the vessel is far out at sea where it is more challenging to do repair works. 

Also, an optimal maintenance schedule allows you to have proper maintenance management. You can also hoard the right spare parts with the appropriate quantity. Not only that, but it also helps to better organize labour requirements for the maintenance works.  

2. Increase Safety

Ship equipment is often exposed to extremely harsh working conditions. Thus, any machine failure will also affect the crews’ safety. According to Marine Insight, about 96% of maritime accidents are due to human errors, including poor maintenance or lack of maintenance of equipment.

Hence, a better maintenance strategy to reduce accidents onboard the ships is imperative. Why predictive maintenance for vessels? All shipowners do perform maintenance works from time to time, however, it is a matter of whether these maintenance works are fixing the right thing. With predictive maintenance, it can help you to identify the right cause of problems, Thus allowing you to fix the right thing at the right time.

Also, predictive maintenance will help to upkeep the condition of the equipment and ensure compliance with the safety regulations in the maritime industry.

3. Reduce Downtime & Cost

Vessel maintenance is often carried out based on a regular maintenance schedule (preventive maintenance) or when the equipment breaks down (reactive maintenance). However, routine maintenance can over maintain the equipment and negatively affect its lifespan. Moreover, according to Clarkson Researched, maintenance and spare parts costs in the maritime industry have been gradually rising and account for about 18% of a vessel’s operating expense (OPEX). It is unjustifiable to over maintain the equipment due to the cost involved and yet does not solve the root of the problem. 

Efficient maintenance is key to reducing costs and improving equipment lifespan. By using sensors to monitor equipment and predict breakdowns, you can perform maintenance only when needed, avoiding unnecessary downtime and costs. This ensures better machinery care and helps set an optimal maintenance schedule, keeping operations running smoothly.

According to McKinsey, using the Internet of Things (IoT) in ship maintenance can reduce 10-40% in service costs and 50% less downtime. This is something that the maritime industry really needs to look into.

4. Sustainability Gains

Efficient maintenance plays a vital role in reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions. When equipment is well-maintained, it operates at peak efficiency, requiring less energy to perform its tasks. This helps minimize fuel usage, lowering operational costs and reducing the strain on resources.

Beyond cost savings, efficient maintenance also has a positive environmental impact. By reducing fuel consumption, well-maintained equipment produces fewer emissions, contributing to cleaner air and a more sustainable future. This simple practice not only benefits businesses but also supports efforts to protect the planet.

Edge Computing: Revolutionizing Vessel Maintenance

On top of predictive maintenance for vessels, edge computing is another key to the digital transformation in vessel maintenance. Edge computing enables the system to process and analyze data closer to the point where it is created. As such, edge computing provides real-time data analysis even without an internet connection. This is especially useful for vessel maintenance as internet access at sea can be limited and unreliable.

Furthermore, it will also reduce delays in data transfer as data is processed at the locally installed gateways, thus enabling quicker data analysis and actions can be taken immediately when required. 

This means that notifications on the condition of the equipment can be done instantly through the system even if the vessels are out in the open sea. Your crews also get to have a quicker response time should any maintenance work be urgently required. 

Towards The Future

To sum up, the way the maritime industry does business has changed since the introduction of IoT. With more technological advances, we are going to see a digital transformation in vessel maintenance through predictive maintenance. 

Here at groundup.ai, we have extensive expertise in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics. These technologies are highly capable in supporting maritime organizations with the implementations of predictive maintenance for vessels. Contact us to find out more details.