Höegh Autoliners has elected to onboard four additional vessels to a joint digital solution combining KONGSBERG’s Vessel Insight and MAN Energy Solutions’ PrimeServ Assist. Following the signing of a digitalization partnership between Kongsberg Digital and MAN Energy Solutions in May 2020, the combined infrastructure was initially trialed by Höegh in a two-vessel pilot project which has now successfully completed.

The agreement between MAN Energy Solutions and Kongsberg Digital came about as the companies realized that their separate efforts in the maritime digitalization space were complementary. Kongsberg Digital’s Vessel Insight – a cost efficient data infrastructure solution for the maritime market – is a natural match with MAN PrimeServ Assist digital solution for optimization of engine use and maintenance. After entering a strategic digitalization partnership, they undertook the delivery of a joint digital infrastructure to Höegh Autoliner’s Horizon class sister-vessels Höegh Trotter and Höegh Traveller. The pilot completion is formalized, and the project has been successful.

“We are very pleased with the results of the pilot project with Höegh and MAN Energy Solutions,” says Andreas Jagtøyen, EVP Digital Ocean, Kongsberg Digital. “The joint digital infrastructure allows the operator to monitor vessel assets and check the running conditions of the engines remotely from shore, in order to give decision-making support to the ship’s crew. Also, the Vessel Performance application from the Kognifai Marketplace gives Höegh tools for reducing fuel consumption and unnecessary running of equipment, as well as benchmarking performance between vessels. We are happy that Höegh has decided to roll Vessel Insight, MAN PrimeServ Assist and Vessel Performance out on several additional vessels.”

These benefits are particularly important to Höegh, who are now installing Vessel Insight, the MAN PrimeServ Assist app and Vessel Performance on four additional vessels. Getting access to complete and contextualized high-quality data from several vessels allows fleet benchmarking and is a significant step towards digitalizing their fleet operations.

“Our purpose is to provide greener and more sustainable deep-sea transportation and we are working closely with suppliers to achieve this,” says Andreas Enger, CEO, Höegh Autoliners. “The collaboration with MAN Energy Solutions and Kongsberg Digital has accelerated the digitalization of our vessel’s operations and is an important step in improving our operational efficiency. Building on the success of the pilot project, we are pleased to continue the partnership with the addition of four vessels in our fleet.”

Speedy installation by crew at sea

When developing Vessel Insight, KONGSBERG focused on making it a low-cost, easy-to-implement data infrastructure solution for a broad market. An important aspect of this is that installation can be carried out by vessel crews while at sea. The Vessel Insight hardware is sent to the vessel and the crew connects it. Immediately, all data is sent to the Kognifai cloud and contextualized. Using learnings from the first installation, the installation time was drastically reduced on the second Höegh vessel, taking only a day. Following the successful project, Höegh Autoliners decided to install Vessel Insight on an additional four sister-vessels in their Horizon class fleet.

Stig Holm, Digital Business lead Two-Stroke at MAN Energy Solutions, explains: “With the connecting of four more vessels, Höegh is a good example of the potential that the Kongsberg-MAN partnership delivers. Digitalization allows our customers to fully leverage MAN’s expertise on engine as well as on maritime customer needs.”

Gregory Puckett, Head of Group Digital at MAN Energy Solutions continues: “Our open and scalable platform allows us to connect a variety of partners and platforms – providing new opportunities for connectivity as well as insights into engine optimization potentials for our customers.”

MAN Energy Solutions and KONGSBERG will begin delivery of Vessel Insight and MAN PrimeServ Assist to the additional vessels immediately.