Cflow digitalized 30 ships and took the reporting burden off the crew

The goal

Make vessel and maritime data useful for a wide range of people, from crew to remote teams

Cflow delivers world leading fish handling systems for wellboats and fishing boats. From Tasmania via Norway to Chile, Cflow powers installations that have to work under the most demanding conditions, in the world's roughest waters.

Data from these vessels has the potential to improve operations, maintenance and design of onboard systems. We have worked with Cflow to bring that data to life, giving both Cflow and their customers value from the data their systems generate.

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The challenge

Bringing vessel and maritime data to life

Wellboats and fishing boats are becoming bigger and more complex, while generating ever more data: process control systems, generators, propulsion and positioning, plus weather and oceanographic data for context. Most often these sources exist in siloed systems and on different formats.

Maritime operations add another complexity: no data communication for extended periods of time. The task was to gather data from multiple sources and formats onboard, and make it valuable for everyone from onboard crew to remote teams around the globe.

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The solution

Cflow Synergy Log onboard data logger + Clarify in the cloud

In collaboration we built Cflow Synergy Log to integrate, store and make onboard data easily available for human and machine usage, with a web interface for dashboards and governmental reporting tailored to user needs.

The data logger integrates directly with onboard process control and sensor systems via OPC-UA, NMEA and other protocols. It handles local storage, buffering, communications and security, and hosts the interface for onboard users.

Clarify handles storage in the cloud and makes data available through the Clarify API, timelines for exploration and collaboration, and connectors to PowerBI, Grafana and R. This lowers the threshold to use data previously locked in silos.

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The results

Enabling improvement and innovation based on vessel data

• Easy data access for onboard and onshore personnel. Crew get documentation and reporting for operations and problem solving. Onshore teams get the reports they need in the browser or on mobile, removing the reporting burden from the crew.
• Increased traceability. All data is stored and available for documentation to freight owners, governments and other needs.
• All vessel data in the cloud. Ready for predictive maintenance, fleet management, analysis and digital twins, with lower cost, less time and fewer resources needed to turn data into value.

*Pictures used in this article are taken by Vasco Pinhol, for Cflow.