PRESS RELEASE: Singapore-based ‘smart shipping’ technology company Ascenz will be launching Shipulse Smart Bunkering during SIBCON; a tool which utilises machine-learning technologies to rate and score mass flowmeter (MFM) bunker supply operations. Ascenz is a key player driving the momentum in shipping digitalisation. They have been developing vessel performance and bunkering solutions since 2008 to enable the industry to increase operational visibility and efficiency.
The company was recently acquired in early 2018 by GTT, the leading LNG containment and engineering company, in a strategic move to increase its capability for developing next generation digital solutions for the shipping industry.
One of their key products is the Shipulse Bunker HMI, which is a bunker data logger and visualiser to assist operators to monitor their bunker delivery. Ascenz has since delivered ~100 Bunker HMI systems to vessel owners and operators. This new Smart Bunkering tool is a further enhancement to their bunkering solutions.
“Smart Bunkering is a proactive bunker assurance tool to bring intelligence to the use of MFM for bunkering operations,” Gary Ong, Director – Corporate Development, at Ascenz told Manifold Times. “One key benefit of Smart Bunkering is automated analysis where the system allows a party to evaluate numerous bunker profiles at the same time, presenting overall efficiency and throughput on reading MFM bunker profiles. “It is able to draw attention on bunkering operations that exhibit incidents of abnormalities that warrant further investigation and is useful for stakeholders in the marine fuel supply chain that often oversee several marine refuelling operations daily, including fuel buyers, port authorities and bunker surveyors. Bunker suppliers in the Singapore and international markets utilise MFM systems to measure the quantity of fuel delivered during bunkering operations while shipowners including PIL, Evergreen, and Yang Ming use the similar systems on their vessels to record refuelling activities, says Ong.
Being a digital platform, MFMs are able to capture numerous data in the form of a bunker profile during the vessel refuelling process; the Smart Bunkering’s advanced operating algorithm is the result of machine learning technologies being applied on MFM bunker profiles. As such, the tool will be able to automatically classify bunker events that potentially exhibit characteristics of entrained air, tank change, and more. From there, further investigations can be raised for review.
A demonstration of the Shipulse Smart Bunkering tool is available at the Ascenz booth (no. 51) in SIBCON.
