<\/p>\n
In an era of ever-smarter shipping, one key area of vessel and fleet administration appears stuck in the dark ages. Pierre Domin\u00e9 explains
why Stolt Tankers is rapidly transitioning to digital logbooks, unlocking a broad range of big data benefits.<\/p>\n
Although the switch from paper to digital logbooks is yet to be mandated, Pierre Domin\u00e9, Quality Assurance & Investigation Specialist, Stolt Tankers, sees no need to wait. \u201cThere\u2019s so much data across a single vessel\u2019s portfolio of record books, and so much potential for gathering all of that together on a fleet-wide basis for better understanding, analysis and decision-making,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, at present, the standard is an array of large paper books, which officers have to physically write in, taking them away from other
duties. There\u2019s no real standardisation, and little chance for verification or validation, while sharing documentation (for example, for commercial or regulatory\/port authority needs) requires \u2018old fashioned\u2019 methods such as photocopying, scanning, and faxing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Domin\u00e9 stresses that this is not just time-consuming and impractical, but also a source of potential human\/clerical error, due to the handwritten nature of the books. \u201cIn a digital age,\u201d he adds, \u201cI\u2019m glad there\u2019s finally an alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n
On 1 October 2020, IMO enabled the use of electronic logbooks in lieu of hard copy records. Books covered by this measure include Oil Record Books (ORB Part 1 and 2), Cargo Record Book, Garbage Record Book, and Record of Fuel Oil Changeover, to name a few. Domin\u00e9, no stranger to the limitations of analogue logbooks, having spent 17 of his 26 years at Stolt Tankers as a Master Mariner, was already ahead of the game. Together with other seasoned experts, he saw the move coming and he was an early adopter of INTERTANKO\u2019s \u00a0\u2018Practical
Considerations for Selecting Electronic Record Book (ERB) Products and Suppliers\u2019.<\/p>\n
Industry progress since 2020, he says, has been slow, but change is gradually taking hold. \u201cIt takes time to change behaviour,\u201d he comments, \u201cbut seafarers, once they\u2019ve been introduced to a good system, quickly see the benefits in having one application, on one screen, where data can be easily entered, and in some cases electronically captured for validation. \u201cEverything is so much easier with a simple, standardised approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
NAVTOR’s digital logbook solution – bringing vessel administration ‘out of the dark ages’. Image courtesy Navtor However, one of the hurdles, he believes, is that awareness of the benefits \u2013 at a vessel and commercial level \u2013 is lacking, while some digital systems are not yet \u201cliving up to the potential\u201d. He explains that, across the industry, there are too many \u201cadvanced PDFs\u201d rather than tailored solutions where AI and machine learning can drive improvements, enabling benefits such as learning engine \u2018trends\u2019 (and thereby delivering smarter preventive maintenance schedules) and benchmarking across fleets for tasks such as fuel transfers, helping create best practices. The Stolt Tankers team has been researching digital logbook solutions since 2019 and, in June 2022, started a process of fleet-wide transformation. Stolt Tankers has partnered with Norway\u2019s NAVTOR, a leader within e-Navigation and performance monitoring and optimization, to refine a simple, smart, and standardised solution. The digital package, part of NAVTOR\u2019s onboard \u2018ecosystem\u2019 (seamlessly connecting vessels, teams, assets, and locations) delivers the big data benefits Stolt Tankers is looking for, while reducing the potential for human error, \u201cWe\u2019ve had an excellent interaction with them,\u201d he states, \u201ctotally open lines of communication, with a real desire from their side to understand At the time of writing, Domin\u00e9 and the Stolt Tankers team had installed NAVTOR\u2019s Class and Flag State approved solution on some 60 vessels, with plans to complete the roll out (a total of 105 ships) by the end of this year.<\/p>\n Domin\u00e9 acknowledges that Stolt Tankers has emerged as \u201cearly adopters\u201d but believes that, even though there\u2019s no current mandate, other \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t they?\u201d he notes. \u201cYou don\u2019t send a letter if you want to contact a friend anymore, or fax handwritten work details to \u00a0colleagues \u2026 there are better, smarter, more efficient ways to do those things, and that goes for shipping and logbooks too.\u201d<\/p>\n For an industry that is at the forefront of global trade, with vessels and crews undertaking critical operations, there\u2019s an imperative, he stresses, to employ the best solutions for optimal decision making and operations. \u201cThis is a major behavioural change,\u201d he concludes, \u201cbut one that can lead to major benefits \u2013 and not just for crews, but for a broad range of stakeholders. \u201cDigitalization is transforming shipping\u2026 and it\u2019s time for logbooks to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In an era of ever-smarter shipping, one key area of vessel and fleet administration appears stuck in the dark ages. Pierre Domin\u00e9 explainswhy Stolt Tankers is rapidly transitioning to digital logbooks, unlocking a broad range of big data benefits. Although the switch from paper to digital logbooks is yet to be mandated, Pierre Domin\u00e9, Quality …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/32572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cLogbooks are overloaded with so much data,\u201d Domin\u00e9 stresses. \u201cSo, instead of just making them \u2018electronic\u2019 how do we utilise smart digital
solutions to turn that into business and operational value? That\u2019s the opportunity here.\u201d<\/p>\n
making compliance easier, and helping seafarers tackle the administrative burden of manual logs.<\/p>\n
and solve our problems. The result is an integrated, intuitive, and intelligent approach that we\u2019re now rolling out. \u201cIt\u2019s an excellent tool for the crew and, on the owner side, opens almost unlimited doors of possibility for real-time data monitoring, efficiency, and continually enhanced sustainability. For a business like Stolt Tankers, that is key.\u201d<\/p>\n
forward-thinking shipowners and operators will inevitably follow suit\u2026 and soon.<\/p>\n