When planning a new vessel, it’s easy to assume that as long as you have a warranty for the engine and other equipment, your ship will run smoothly. But a warranty only goes so far. Here are six important reasons why you should think about lifecycle management from day one – and not just when the warranty runs out.
As a rule, warranties for engines and other equipment cover material or manufacturing defects that cause problems during normal use. This gives you some peace of mind, but only for a limited period. In addition, vessels equipped with modern multi-fuel engines typically have a long overhaul interval, with the first overhaul required between 32,000-36,000 running hours. In reality this means that your vessel could be in operation for as long as six years before you would need to perform its first overhaul.
Will a warranty or a long overhaul interval guarantee your new ship will run smoothly? Unfortunately the answer is no. Here are the six top reasons why you should think about a service agreement instead of relying on a warranty – before your vessel first sets sail:
Let’s take a detailed look at each of these six reasons.
Unscheduled downtime is something that every ship owner or operator wants to avoid; rock-solid reliability is the number one goal. You can use engine data to improve the reliability of your ships and minimise the risk of unexpected equipment failures. Using cutting-edge AI to continuously record and analyse data from day one can help detect any anomalies early on – before they’d be apparent to crew onboard. This means you can resolve minor problems before they become major, expensive ones.
For example, let’s imagine that you’re operating a new LNG carrier, and you leave the port with the engine at full load. Because of this, you may experience high-load misfires, which can cause invisible cracks in your engine. These cracks can be very harmful and can lead to bigger problems such as cylinder head cracks and cooling water leaks. In the worst-case scenario, cracks can lead to complete engine failure, which can have far-reaching consequences.
A service agreement that takes advantage of real-time vessel data from day one helps to avoid these kinds of situations, which can be costly and time-consuming to repair. Even if you are gathering vessel data, that data is not sufficient on its own. Data needs to be combined with cutting-edge AI and extensive human expertise to extract actionable insights that will make your maintenance needs more predictable.
Predictive maintenance services, such as Wärtsilä Expert Insight, work by detecting tiny deviations and patterns in vessel data that are imperceptible to humans. The predictive maintenance services do this by monitoring trends and changes in the real-time data and comparing them to historical data from thousands of vessels in the global fleet. Doing this makes it possible to recognise problems before they happen and act accordingly. If the predictive maintenance service flags an anomaly, the assigned Wärtsilä experts will investigate the issue and recommend actions for the crew. You will have the peace of mind that comes with an early warning of any issues, helping you to address smaller problems before they turn into much bigger ones.
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In today’s competitive maritime industry, reducing emissions, ensuring fuel efficiency and maximising vessel uptime are critical factors for success. Juggling these factors while also running your core operations can be challenging – even if the vessel is new and the warranty is still valid. This is why taking a lifecycle approach to maintenance is the smartest choice. A lifecycle approach will help keep your ship performing optimally right from the start – whatever your business goals.
With an outcome-based service agreement, you could even get a guarantee that your targets will be reached and maintained – giving you even more peace of mind. Outcome-based service agreements align your interests as a customer with those of your service provider. Together you agree on what you want to achieve, then you work together towards those goals. Risks are shared and results are guaranteed. It’s a win-win solution.
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Sustainable marine fuels like methanol and ammonia are quickly becoming the smart choice for new vessels as emissions regulations become stricter. But these fuels require new skills and ways of working from your vessel crew and onshore staff – and the changes can feel overwhelming for them.
This is because most crews have little or no experience with the latest fuel systems. Not only that, the fuel systems for sustainable fuels are more complex and contain elements that do not exist in conventional engines, which means there are more elements to maintain. And while sustainable fuels are safe to use when you take the right precautions, you must adhere strictly to proper handling, storage and usage practices. All this can put extra strain on your crew as they learn how to handle the new fuel safely.
This is where predictive maintenance services like Wärtsilä Expert Insight can help. Predictive maintenance services continuously analyse incoming data from sensors onboard a vessel. Advanced rule-based analytics and a layer of artificial intelligence help to recognise when there’s a potential issue, which is then flagged to the most important element of the Expert Insight service: Wärtsilä experts. They alert the customer to any anomalies and use their knowledge and experience to provide actionable advice and recommendations.
Predictive maintenance services and remote operational support can also serve as a great training and onboarding programme for your crew. By doing this, your crew can learn from top experts about how to solve the problems that occur most often – with expert support available whenever they need. The most capable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can also offer practical training for vessel crew and onshore staff that can be fully tailored to your needs.
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Service agreements don’t just prevent problems and keep your equipment in top condition – they can also reduce lifecycle costs. An agreement that gives your service provider access to real-time data from your vessels can save you money in various ways:
A service agreement also often comes with fixed or at least predictable costs, allowing you to budget more accurately and avoid unexpected surprises. Doing this from day one will optimise your lifetime costs and improve your vessel’s overall performance and efficiency.
Warranties are crucial for your ship engine and other equipment, but they don’t cover everything. A typical warranty covers material or manufacturing defects for a specified period; it doesn’t cover all potential issues that might arise – let alone predictive or regular maintenance. Here are some key things to consider:
In other words, you should not rely on warranties alone. There are much more effective ways to take care of your engine and other equipment – such as service agreements. Service agreements offer a different approach to keeping your engine and equipment running as reliably and efficiently as possible from day one. For maximum benefit a service agreement can be arranged even before your vessel is built.
Owning and operating a vessel comes with many unpredictable factors, especially if your vessel is running on a sustainable fuel. This can make costs difficult to predict and budget for.
Although sustainable fuels produce less emissions, they are currently more expensive than fossil-based fuels and their availability as marine fuels is still limited. Vessels that use sustainable fuels will need more fuel and more storage space onboard because of their lower energy density. In addition, maintenance costs can be higher because the fuel systems of modern multi-fuel engines have more elements to maintain. These additional costs, as well as the costs related to CO2 emissions, are difficult to predict – and therefore budget for.
Many OEMs offer service agreements that come with fixed or at least predictable costs, allowing you to budget more accurately and avoid unexpected surprises from day one.
These six reasons highlight the benefit of taking a lifecycle approach to your engine and other equipment maintenance from day one, not just when the warranty runs out.
A properly tailored service agreement that takes advantage of engine data can help you run your vessel optimally, minimise downtime and comply with emission regulations – keeping your business competitive and profitable. It can also help you introduce a new fuel to your crew and onshore staff.
The best types of agreements can also offer performance guarantees, allowing you to reduce risk and ensure your performance targets are reached and maintained. You don’t have to do it alone.
Your OEM can help you in many different ways. For example, if you have these three questions:
Perhaps you need more information on lifecycle services and how they could meet your needs? Take the easiest first step today –
This article about the benefit of taking a lifecycle approach to maintenance from day one first appeared as a Wärtsilä Insights story.
