Dockwise Vanguard, Image courtesy Amarcon, click for larger
Launched last month at Hyundai Heavy Industries, the Dockwise Vanguard is the largest heavy lift vessel ever built and is currently undergoing sea trials.
While carrying loads in excess of 100,000 tons across thousands of miles of ocean, motion monitoring, response prediction and heavy-weather decision support are some of the critical data sets for the bridge watchstanders to monitor. To provide the operators with this data, Amarcon, a long-time client of Dockwise and ABB subsidiary, announced today that they will be outfitting the Dockwise Vanguard with their OCTOPUS-Onboard system.
OCTOPUS-Onboard combines wave measurements, weather forecasts, and navigation data like speed, course, RPM and the voyage plan, with ship characteristics, loading conditions, and motion sensor measurements. This facilitates continuous monitoring as well as simulation and forecasting of the ship responses and performance. Warnings can be instigated for possible hazards and their consequences. As a result, OCTOPUS-Onboard makes the main tasks of the officer on watch easier, by giving support for safe and economic navigation, damage avoidance and route planning.
The OCTOPUS product line is part of ABB’s Vessel Information and Control (VICO) systems suite which incorporates a full range of automation and advisory solutions specifically for marine applications, based on ABB’s field-proven process automation technologies.
Leon Adegeest, founder and General Manager of Amarcon commented on this order, “For Amarcon, it is exciting to deliver our decision support software to a vessel of this magnitude, that can carry anything from a ship or drilling rig, up to an entire Floating Production Storage and Offloading unit.”