With electronic certificates, machine learning, remote survey, and globally accessible apps and platforms, DNV GL is using digitalization to enhance its class services and make them more accessible than ever before.
DNV GL’s smart and flexible digital services help shipowners, yards, suppliers and manufacturers stay compliant, reduce downtime, access global expertise and boost safety and quality.
A single access point means simplicity
All of DNV GL’s digital class services are accesses via the Veracity platform and Fleet Status. This is a free and easy-to-use service for owners and managers of vessels with DNV GL class or management system services. It provides the current class and vessel status information and can assist in planning, ordering and keeping track of class-related activities.
E-certificates make it easy
As the first classification society to launch electronic certificates, DNV GL rolled out the service for its entire fleet in October 2017. Customers benefit significantly by being able to share certificates globally immediately upon issue.
Before, owners and captains had to keep track of the original while sending multiple copies to land. Manual updates were an overwhelming task, and the system was by no means secure. Now the digitally signed original is secure and easily accessible in the Cloud.
Using an e-mail subscription function, each update of an e-certificate or issuance of a new one triggers a notification to all involved parties, with the verified document attached. The electronic certificates are secured with a digital signature and a unique tracking number (UTN) which can be checked online, assuring their validity and authenticity.
Simply efficient
Smart Survey Booking is a major move in streamlining a previously tedious and often inefficient manual task. Smart Survey Booking enables clients to keep their vessels in operational condition by minimizing the on-board impact from surveys and audits and reducing on-shore and on-board administration work.
The Smart Survey Booking solution automatically finds the optimal window for a ship’s periodical surveys, allowing for as many survey and audit requirements and requests as possible to be covered in one survey, to avoid multiple inspections. Based on this time window and a list of possible ports entered by the operator, the system looks for the closest geographical location, accounting for the scope and duration of the survey and surveyor availability, and issues a recommendation. This minimizes the time involved in booking the survey and the inconvenience for the vessel, while keeping the costs down by helping reduce surveyor travel times.
The system now also estimates port call options based on the Veracity ETA Predictor, and benchmark ports to help identify where the full survey scope can be completed, taking into account travel and cost. A link to all DNV GL approved service suppliers further improves efficiency and keeps survey costs down.
Remote inspection: Eyes anywhere
Remote technology is enabling ship inspection from virtually anywhere in the world. Equipped with something as simple as a smartphone app, personnel on board can connect to the surveyor on land, and the survey is underway. With its rollout in 2019, DNV GL was the first classification society to offer all DNV GL classed vessels the possibility to use remote surveys.
This means that for a range of surveys, a DNV GL surveyor is not required to travel to the vessel. Instead, by using an online connection or video streaming link, a dedicated team of remote surveyors can provide support to vessels anywhere in the world with documentation, images, video (streaming or recordings), and input provided by the customer and crew.
When a customer makes a survey request they may, for some survey types, be given the option by the system to choose to carry out the survey remotely. The request is then evaluated by a remote surveyor to make sure it can be offered remotely. The remote survey regime has been constructed to ensure that the level of assurance is equivalent to an onboard survey.
DNV GL is providing the service though its popular DATE units. This gives global 24 hour coverage for all requests as well as a specialized group of remote surveyors. This provides consistency in how the surveys are handled and exceptional quality levels. In addition, DNV GL‘s use of electronic certificates for all vessels, mean survey results can be published and transmitted immediately.
Unprecedented efficiency gains and new insights in machinery maintenance
Machinery Maintenance Connect (MMC) is DNV GL’s new remote approach to the machinery planned maintenance system (MPMS). Instead of requiring surveyors to travel to each individual vessel and go onboard, machinery data can be processed via algorithms and presented to customers in a digital dashboard – enabling the survey of a complete fleet in one process and unlocking new insights into vessel and fleet performance.
The MMC system provides a complete breakdown of any maintenance already completed and overdue, with the dates of the work. By collating and presenting the data owners and operators can access data in real time to create a maintenance plan that can predict the requirements of individual vessels and, with AIS, utilize repair yards local to the position of the vessel.
MPMS reduces the time required for machinery surveys significantly. In one case surveys on 49 vessels were completed in roughly four hours, something that would normally take 49 separate onboard surveyor visits. And the data is all right there – instantly, easily and directly accessible by management in real time.
With MMC, owners have much better control over the maintenance regimes of all their vessels, allowing them to plan ahead for vessel downtime and offer their clients more reliable service. Every vessel is also surveyed in the same way, offering a more objective survey and providing easily benchmarking of their fleet’s maintenance.
Making a DATE with DNV GL
DATE is DNV GL’s service that connects customers to technical experts, whenever and wherever they are. DATE experts can answer anything from questions on certificate issues, postponements, survey requirements, evaluations of repair proposals, to class and statutory rule interpretations.
More than 400 experts covering all technical fields in centres around the world are ready to answer your questions, regardless of time zone. They will normally reply within one working day, and urgent requests can, upon request, be processed even faster.
The DATE service is available 24 hours a day, Monday to Friday and delivered from units in Hamburg, Høvik, Houston, Piraeus and Singapore. It is also available as a mobile application for iOS and Android and allows creating, viewing, modifying and closing DATE cases on your mobile phone.
Learning application
DNV GL has also incorporated a machine learning system into DATE. This looks at a customer’s email query or problem and assigns the case to the correct category and expert or section for fast processing. This cuts down on manual vetting and reduces time wasted on re-routing and finding another expert.
DNV GL is proud to be leading the march on modernizing classification, bringing efficiency, accuracy, and security to classification processes that had remained virtually unchanged since class began.
