It was built in partnership with class society RINA and satcoms service provider, Telemar.
The new centre will increase data collection from ships and provide greater detail on performance criteria to enable d’Amico to increase efficiency and safety across the fleet, the group said.
This project, which officially started operations at the beginning of last month, is an example of an increasing trend towards digitalisation within the maritime industry.
As well as providing d’Amico with operational intelligence on which to base strategic business decisions and improvements, the level of information from vessels will enable expert support during emergency situations and efficient planning of predictive maintenance to maximise vessel availability.
The three-way partnership will result in RINA managing automatic data acquisition on board the ships, subsequent analysis and the presentation of the data collected. Telemar will provide secure satellite communications from d’Amico’s fleet to the operating centre, using its sister company Marlink’s global, multi-band VSAT network.
Marlink’s involvement with Telemar was said to be critical to the project as it boosts expertise in cyber security and brings experience in ensuring safe, reliable communications from ship to shore.
d’Amico will take an active role in the project, providing technical specifications and validation of the overall set-up for the system and in particular of the design of monitoring, layout and alerting rules.
For RINA, the project means adding another important element to the recently released cloud digital platform, RINACube that has been developed to host many marine services and to be open to integrate third party data and applications.
RINACube is a solution offering shipowners and operators a new concept of data monitoring and analysis platforms and to provide powerful analytics capabilities in order to extract value and business insights from the data collected.
The new d’Amico Group operating centre will be completed around the end of this year. Once complete, there will be further opportunities to integrate other software systems into the centre to further increase efficiency and visibility throughout the d’Amico Group business, the company said.
Salvatore d’Amico, d’Amico Group fleet director, said, “We are very proud to be part of this project where together with RINA and Telemar we are planning to develop from scratch a fleet control centre built around the shipowner. In d'Amico Group we believe that this is the next step to make our ships safer in an industry where the margin for mistakes is zero."
Paolo Moretti, EVP marine strategic development at RINA, said; “RINA is very excited to be involved in the process of building this fleet digital operating centre with experienced partners like d’Amico Group and Telemar. In today’s marine industry, digitalisation is pivotal to improve efficiency and safety. This project will bridge digitalisation, strategic decisions and operational excellence together.”
Pasquale Golia, Compagnia Generale Telemar technical director, added; “Together with RINA and d’Amico Group, along with support and services from Marlink, we are building a next generation global digital solution that will enable the company to improve performance across its fleet and business, helping it to grow and prosper in the highly competitive global shipping market.”