ABS and Seatrium Advancing Digital Technologies for Shipyards

ABS and Seatrium are working together to advance smart digital technologies for shipyards, with a focus on boosting safety, productivity and efficiency.

At Singapore Maritime Week, ABS launched detailed requirements to guide the industry in the application of smart technologies at shipyards and recognize Seatrium as the first shipyard group to deploy smart technologies in its operations, in line with the ABS Guide for Smart Technologies for Shipyards.

Seatrium’s Mobile Wearable Personal Device (MWPD) Monitoring System, which leverages the internet of things (IOT) and platform technologies has also received Product Design Assessment (PDA) approval from ABS.

The MWPD Monitoring System by Seatrium is integrated into smart devices that are deployed shipyard wide. These devices are worn on the wrists and intended to enhance the overall health and safety of shipyard workers with features such as fall detection, geo-location, emergency connectivity and real-time safety notifications.

The devices can be monitored via a command center to help improve response time to emergencies and deploy safety messages more effectively.

“The transition toward digitalization is moving fast in shipbuilding, and ABS is leading the industry by partnering with pioneers such as Seatrium. Smart technology can improve design, fabrication and operational processes as well as improve the health, safety and quality processes in shipyards. Our guide is a key step in supporting others in their digitalization journey,” said Christopher J. Wiernicki, ABS Chairman, President and CEO.

“The smart device is another example of how Seatrium is harnessing digital technologies as part of our broader strategy to transform our workforce, products and services in support of our order book, while achieving safety and operational excellence to further augment our Smart Yard vision. We are glad to collaborate with ABS to advance smart technologies for the industries and create value which will benefit all stakeholders,” said Chris Ong, Seatrium Chief Executive Officer.

The recognition from ABS for the wearable device monitoring system is among the many ongoing collaborative efforts between ABS and Seatrium to pioneer digital transformation for the offshore, marine and energy industries through a multi-year joint development project (JDP).

Also under the JDP, ABS and Seatrium will collaborate on further smart yard initiatives covering a wide range of innovative digital solutions, such as the remote inspection using smart glasses with 5G technology to enhance the surveying process during and after the construction of a vessel. Since 2022, Seatrium has launched the 5G infrastructure across its yard operations to future-proof yard-wide connectivity, which will enable the trial and deployment of multiple-use cases, including an augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) remote inspection platform and smart video analytics.

Prior to this, ABS and Seatrium have collaborated in a series of significant smart function development projects. The ongoing joint efforts to further advance the use of smart functions in the energy sector includes developing a suite of intelligent energy management functionality onboard Seatrium’s Floating Living Lab to enable a self-generating smart microgrid within the shipyard. The Floating Living Lab is a pioneering initiative that has received a first-of-its-kind approval in principle (AIP) award from ABS. The system includes asset performance and distributed energy resource operation equipment for predictive health monitoring that can be remotely monitored from Seatrium’s command center over a 5G network to drive operational excellence, maximize asset performances and minimize asset lifecycle cost.