ABS provides bow-to-stern Condition-based Class asset management programme
While at Sea Air Space 2018, MONCh visited the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a company dedicated to marine and offshore classification as well as other innovative safety, quality and environmental services focused on the marine, energy and government sectors.
Back on 10 April, ABS announced that it had engaged in a two-year project with the US Navy (USN) Military Sealift Command (MSC) to deliver a bow-to-stern Condition-based Class asset management programme. This will enable the move from purely calendar-based surveys to an entirely condition-based classification model through the collection of data from newly installed hull sensors, as well as from sensors on all classed machinery onboard three MSC vessels: USNS Spearhead (expeditionary fast transport craft), USNS Amelia Earhart (a dry cargo/ammunition vessel), and USNS Pomeroy (a large RO/RO vessel). The data will be stored in a cloud-based data platform and run through data analytics and models that will unlock deep vessel performance insights and facilitate and more accurate prediction of system vulnerabilities and risks.
To establish precise baseline conditions, ABS is building Digital Twins for each of the three vessels based on an in-depth survey assessment of their structures and machinery. Combined with ABS’ advanced analytics the Digital Twins detect abnormal behaviour, providing an early warning and the opportunity to mitigate problems before they occur.
“Integrating condition-based maintenance into the survey model is the future of class, and we are delivering it today,” said ABS Chairman, President and CEO, Christopher J. Wiernicki. “The ABS Condition-based Class Model solution will help MSC target critical areas for repair, prioritise maintenance requirements, and more efficiently schedule and use resources to improve availability. The project objectives are to reduce downtime, provide greater operational flexibility, allow ships to remain in service longer and meet mission demands, while also meeting class requirements.”
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