Splash247: GTT Marine turns VDR data into proactive safety tool

Published by Splash247

GTT Marine has launched a new analytics tool designed to turn voyage data recorder information from a post-accident resource into a continuous bridge safety monitoring system.

The new Bridge Operations Quality Assurance (BOQA) capability sits within Safety Insights by Danelec and automatically scans vessel data for events and operating conditions that could warrant closer safety review.

Rather than waiting for a casualty before extracting VDR information, BOQA uses predefined triggers to flag situations during normal operations, including potentially dangerous close passing, excessive rates of turn and rudder angles, abnormal heading changes, sustained heel, excessive speed in shallow water, severe wind conditions and sudden deceleration that could indicate a collision or grounding.

The system filters data over defined periods to avoid flooding operators with short-lived anomalies and can take operating context into account. Close-passing events, for example, can be assessed using closest point of approach, vessel length, speed and water depth.

The resulting events can then be reviewed by marine, HSEQ and fleet management teams to identify recurring behaviour and trends across individual ships or an entire fleet.

“VDRs transformed maritime safety by giving the industry a trusted record of what happened when something went wrong,” said Christian Kock, executive vice president of safety at GTT Marine. “By leveraging that same foundation to provide safety insight while operations are still going right, BOQA ensures that every voyage becomes an opportunity to improve the next one.”

The launch builds on GTT’s move deeper into maritime digital technology following its acquisition of Danish VDR and vessel data specialist Danelec last year.

Danelec now sits alongside Ascenz Marorka and Vessel Performance Solutions within GTT’s digital business, giving the French group an installed base covering around 17,000 ships across its digital technologies.