Coach Solutions uses Tidetech data to quantify the impact of hull fouling

“Currents affect speed directly, so a 10% change in speed, that’s normal for current, can have quite a big effect at any speed. Using Tidetech data, we usually get within one or two percentage points in the normalisation of the data that enables us to detect changes in speed loss.”

– Thomas Sørensen, Product Manager

The challenge: Time is money and emissions

It shouldn’t be weeks into a voyage before ship operators can determine whether or not their vessel needs hull cleaning because it is performing sub-optimally. Biofouling of the hull and propeller is the most common culprit behind speed loss, and Coach Solutions has demonstrated that identifying it quickly and reliably has a significant impact on fleet sustainability and profit.

The company’s mission is to remove guesswork when it comes to voyage planning, optimisation and vessel performance. One of its solutions, Valid Performance, analyses voyage data including daily fuel consumption, distance sailed, speed and engine power output to determine where performance can be improved.

“The ability to estimate the impact of hull fouling as part of that means that ship operators can stop relying on fixed hull cleaning schedules and a false sense of security,” said product manager Thomas Sørensen

“To evaluate how a ship is performing, we need to normalise for external effects like weather, currents and waves,” Sørensen said.

“That’s what we are here for every single day. We can quickly establish how a vessel is performing so our clients can act on performance issues.”

Coach Solutions has the expertise, provided by in-house meteorologists, marine engineers and naval architects, to identify the impact of hull biofouling with just a few days of noon reporting data, but manually maintaining their in-house metocean database and interpolating voyage conditions from that was slowing them down.

The solution: Free to focus on what they do best

Coach Solutions looked around for a new service.

“Tidetech had a very smooth API. We could remove all the responsibility from ourselves and just enter a time and coordinates to get accurate metocean data,” Sørensen said.

That data includes wind speed and direction, wind wave height, wind wave period, wind wave direction, swell height, swell direction, swell period and surface current speed and direction.

“The wave period is important, because we work with many vessels that are 60-80 metres long. They can be heavily affected by Atlantic Ocean waves which can have a similar wavelength. That can increase resistance significantly, so we can’t just look at wave height, we also need the wave curve.”

Tidetech also had a reputation for providing good current data, Sørensen said, which was an important consideration for Coach Solutions as this data is important for calculating loss of vessel speed over time.

“Currents affect speed directly, so a 10 percent change in speed, that’s normal for current, can have quite a big effect at any vessel speed. Using Tidetech’s data, we usually get within one or two percentage points in the normalisation of the data that enables us to detect changes in speed loss.”

The company’s Valid Performance solution compares the vessel’s actual performance with its ideal performance and quantifies the difference. To do so, it combines data from noon reports with AIS and hindcast weather data and compares them with its naval architecture-based digital twin models.

“We can advise ship operators and charterers much faster with accurate data, because we need a much shorter time to assess the performance of the vessel. Our clients can therefore avoid sending a vessel on a long voyage while it is performing poorly simply because they can’t do anything until they get it to the next port for hull cleaning.”

The advice can also be used for preparing charter party terms, ensuring the most up-to-date performance figures are available. Post-charter, Coach Solutions provides data for the assessment of whether the vessel fulfilled the contract terms or whether certain voyage days need to be excluded.

Coach Solutions also responds to customer requests to assess coating performance. Ocean currents are one of the factors that can affect the laminar flow of water around the hull.

“Our job is to evaluate that effect, and we need wind, wave and current data so we can normalise performance data and assess how well the coating is working,” Sørensen said.

The results: Meeting client needs

Coach Solutions can now predict changes in vessel speed loss that are accurate to within two percent. The company can predict vessel performance in just a few days instead of the weeks typically required with less accurate models. This enables them to advise clients on the need for early hull maintenance action which in turn saves tonnes of fuel and emissions daily. This same speed and accuracy enables them to provide performance reports for charter party compliance checking without delay at the end of a voyage.

Coach Solutions prides itself on the high level of expertise and service it provides to clients, and these results have led to a growing number of clients and software partnerships where their solutions are incorporated into third-party offerings such as DNV’s Veracity platform or the Nextvoyage Voyage Management System.

Sørensen values Tidetech’s data and support and says Coach Solutions, while only currently using hindcast data, is looking to expand on that in the future and use Tidetech forecast data for pre-voyage planning.