The contract was signed in April by DNV GL - Software CEO, Are Føllesdal Tjønn and Sinochem’s vice general manager, Zhang Xin at the opening of DNV GL’s new office centre in Shanghai.
“We are proud to be partnering with Sinochem, an innovative and growing shipping company in Asia,”said Tjønn.“This is yet another sign of DNV GL and ShipManager’s strong growth, both in China but also in the tanker segment.”
Sinochem’s vessels are operated by subsidiary Aoxing Shipmanagement ,who has offices in Shanghai, Singapore and Japan. DNV GL said that Sinochem will benefit from a standardised and integrated system for operating a growing global fleet. The shipping company had previously been relying on internally developed systems.
“As an international player in shipping, we require a global fleet management system to manage vessels in a differentiated, best-in-class manner, ensuring that all functional areas are integrated,”said Zhang. “Our business relies highly on a flexible, intelligent and standardised fleet management system. Therefore, we have decided to launch the project to work closely with DNV GL. Together we will implement ShipManager to meet all our current and future requirements.”
ShipManager includes technical, procurement, crewing, QHSE and analyser modules and supports vessels and fleets in technical, operational and compliance aspects. The software is currently being developed to include Chinese language capabilities, which will further strengthen the product for the Asian market.
Sinochem will also use DNV GL’s Navigator Insight, an MRV-ready reporting solution covering operational needs. Navigator Insight feeds data to different stakeholders in addition to the ECO Insight fleet performance portal.
In addition, the company has signed a long-term agreement with Seagull Maritime to deliver cost-effective learning on board its chemical tanker fleet.
To effectively gain advantage in the chemical trade, with its fierce international competition, Sinochem said that it sees it as an obligation for the company and their customers to implement a training scheme to allow the crew to be at the top of the class.
“There has been a shortage of skilled officers and crew to the chemical tanker industry for some years now and we see that this investment in a quality training system from Seagull Maritime is just as much an investment in our most valued assets – our people, ” said Zhang.
Sinochem will start with a selected library of e-learning modules and reflective learning films for the fleet, several of which will be delivered with Chinese translation and subtitles.
“It is a known fact that our focus on language translations over the past years will help us tie even stronger bonds in the Asian regions,” said Lim Soo Hock, managing director Seagull Maritime Information Technology, Singapore. “The quality of our training and content is well known and even though English is the working language in the maritime industry, the use of local language will enforce the learning retention for all seafarers in our region.”
Sinochem and Seagull Maritime said that they will work closely together in the coming years to develop further training content, assisting crew and officers in the chemical tanker segment to obtain and retain knowledge.