Oceaneering International, Inc. is proud to announce the launch of a new business, OceanSMART Cargo Logistics and Maritime Technology, which aims to eliminate waste and increase transparency within the bulk commodity cargo logistics industry.

OceanSMART will be led by Managing Director Bryan Phillips, who comes to the team with over 25 years’ experience in the marine shipping and cargo logistics industry, most recently as chief innovation officer at Inchcape Shipping Services. He is joined by another maritime industry stalwart with over 30 years’ experience, Neill Tomlin, who will serve as Vice President of Product and Business Development.

Over the past 18 months, Oceaneering’s Maritime Intelligence and Technology team worked to develop the OceanSMART offering to address serious industry challenges. The bulk commodity industry amounts to around 60% of world seaborne commodity movements. These cargoes include oil and gas, agricultural, and mineral products. The industry is one where there is little transparency, inherent conflicts of interest, tremendous waste, and misinformation.

This environment results in delays, reactive decision making, unnecessary risk, excess cost, and other environmental impacts. This presents an incredible opportunity to revitalize the way the industry currently does business by more effectively using data and technology, getting away from paper-driven tasks and aging legacy applications.

OceanSMART is a combination of software as a service (SaaS) products, data science tools, and resourcing services that will provide cargo owners with real time visibility of their vessels, cargoes, and maritime assets. The service provides transparency to risk, hidden costs, inefficiency, and waste as well as provides the solutions to significantly save time and money and vastly improve decision making.

Rod Larson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Oceaneering, said, “OceanSMART is a perfect complement to our existing maritime business and fits well into our ‘innovate and expand’ strategic objective. We are very excited about what the team has built over the last 18 months and the growth opportunities this business offers.

“When Bryan first pitched the idea to us, it was clear that he understood the problem he was trying to solve, that he had the background and skills to lead this initiative, and that the strategy would significantly change the industry.”

Bryan Phillips, Managing Director of OceanSMART, said, “Oceaneering is the perfect organization and partner for what we are undertaking. Customers are incredibly excited by what we have built as well as the roadmap ahead of us. They are excited that we have the stable ownership of a major organization like Oceaneering, whose leadership is 100% behind us.

“Ever since I started off as an 18-year-old customs clerk in the port of Durban, South Africa, it has always mystified me how little awareness there is of the amount of money being wasted by cargo owners. Fundamentally, the more inefficient a cargo movement is, the more money several parties handling this cargo make, and this is ultimately paid for by the cargo owners. That is why, three years ago, I set out to start a business that intends to rectify this issue and change the industry.”

The OceanSMART portfolio currently includes the SaaS products SMART Position and SMART Analytics. Data science advanced algorithms have been developed that can analyze port and terminal performance in near-real time with developing predictive analytics. On the resourcing side, OCEAN Demurrage and OCEAN Barge have both received significant demand signals from the market. Additionally, OceanSMART has launched the SMART AIS mobile app. Over the next 12 months, several new SaaS products, data science algorithms, and resourcing services will be released to expand the OceanSMART product line.

Stena Bulk is presenting a prototype of the next-generation product and chemical tanker, the IMOFlexMAX , which will be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25% compared to modern product tankers.

The vessel, designed by Stena Bulk to meet the current and future needs of liquid bulk shipping, is a further development of our current IMOIIMAX design; best in class in terms of performance and with a design based on two major objectives – flexibility and efficiency.

“The world’s need for reliable, innovative and sustainable transportation of liquid products is increasing and it will continue to do so as the world’s population grows and global living standards continue to improve,” says Erik Hånell, President & CEO at Stena Bulk.

IMOFlexMAX will lead the way towards a sustainable future as one of the most energy-efficient product and chemical tankers on the market. It has been designed by world-class naval architects at sister company Stena Teknik and is based on 40 years of tanker shipping experience.

From hull design to vessel propulsion, these ships will incorporate the latest technology, setting a new standard for the global tanker industry. The vessels will be equipped with Flettner rotors and solar panels to harvest energy from wind and sunlight.

They will be powered by efficient dual-fuel engines that can run on LNG as well as conventional low-sulfur fuels using today’s newest technology, but also open the way for further development of alternatives with consideration to trade lanes and customers’ expectations.

The basic concept of the IMOFlexMax will allow us to dramatically reduce local SOX, NOX and particle emissions, as well as greenhouse gas emissions. With the combined fuel and energy efficiencies, we will be able to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 25 % with a potential to reach up to 45 % compared to modern product tankers run by low-sulfur fuel oil.

With IMOFlexMAX vessels, which can be built today with existing and proven technology and other solutions, Stena Bulk is taking a major step forward in bringing shipping in compliance with the Paris Agreement and the UN’s Sustainability and Development Goals.

“The plan is for the IMOFlexMAX vessels to be deployed in Stena Bulk’s logistics system in the global market along with the IMOIIMAX. The IMOFlexMAX vessels will constitute an important asset for Stena Bulk, as well as for its partners, in strengthening our position as the market-leading, cross-trading specialists in the MR segment with increased efficiency and reduction of greenhouse gases.

The prototype is one step further in Stena Bulk’s vision of being our customers’ first choice for safety, innovation and performance in the transportation of oil, chemicals and gas,” says Erik Hånell.

NYK-operated Owari Maru, an ore carrier, was awarded the Meteorological Agency’s Director-General Award on June 1 for the contribution the ship has made to meteorological business development by observing marine weather conditions and transmitting observation results over an extended period of time.

Every year, Japan’s minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, together with the director-general of the Japan Meteorological Agency, commend vessels that have participated in observing and reporting marine weather conditions, and NYK-operated vessels have now been awarded the Meteorological Agency’s Director-General Award for three consecutive years since 2018.

Owari Maru, which was recognized this year, has been in operation since 2007, annually transporting about 1.6 million tons of iron ore mainly from Australia to Japan.

NYK will continue to provide information on marine weather conditions to help ensure ship safety.

Length Overall: 319.58 meters
Breadth: 54.00 meters
Designed Draft: 18.10 meters
Gross Tonnage: 113,928 tons
Deadweight Tonnage: 229,013 tons
Ship Management: Hachiuma Steamship Co. Ltd.

Because oceans cover 70 percent of the earth’s surface, they greatly affect world weather. However, meteorological data on oceans is limited, which creates “blind spots” in the meteorological observation of the world.

Meteorological data collection by vessels sailing oceans helps compensate for the shortcomings of meteorological surveys. Not only is data collection encouraged by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO), data collection is also stipulated in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS Convention) of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The underlying concept is that vessels navigating oceans help collect information on weather conditions in the oceans, and in exchange, oceangoing ships receive weather data from meteorological agencies around the world.

The method for ships transmitting weather data is standardized. Observation results of wind direction, atmospheric pressure and temperature, water temperature, the height of sea swells, and the types and heights of clouds, are all converted into numerical codes. This information is then distributed throughout the world via WMO’s international weather-data communication network. Based on such information, meteorological agencies around the globe compile meteorological data, such as weather charts, which are then fed back to traveling vessels.

Even vessels equipped with computers and other state-of-the-art devices need to be warned of dangerous weather conditions, such as typhoons and thick fog. On the other hand, even cutting-edge weather-forecast technology using the most sophisticated computers is of little use in the absence of meteorological data for vast oceans around the globe.

It may be said, therefore, that our day-to-day life on land, not to mention the safety of oceangoing vessels, benefits immeasurably from the meteorological data that are collected through this win-win relationship between land and oceans in the observation of weather conditions.