Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ShipHullSHM (Bespoke Acoustic Emission System for real-time ship hull monitoring for all weather conditions)
Reporting period: 2015-09-01 to 2016-02-29
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
The European ship repair and maintenance industry suffers from outdated techniques, high labour costs and depressed prices: ship repair operations are inefficient because currently it is impossible to quantify accurately the extent of work required before the ship is in dock. Through our involvement in the EU FP7 project CompHealth , ETS Sistemi Industriali S.r.l. has developed to TRL 6 a non-destructive testing (NDT) system based on an existing RF spiral eddy current method as a defect detection scanner for materials condition assessment during inspection . Tested by project partner Boeing, the scanner is able to inspect large surfaces / panels and accommodate different signal sensors and processing in a built-in unit operated from a laptop. Experience gained from this project and engineering data from the R&D on arrayed SHM sensors have confirmed the significant time and cost benefits of SHM, and has led to the ShipHulISHM NDT solution for continuous inspection, repair and maintenance of steel ship hulls using passive, highly-sensitive Acoustic Emission (AE). ETS Sistemi Industriali S.r.l. is commercially active in this technology and offer advanced AE inspection services as part of their global NDT business.
In the ship industry, structural failure - due to the severe corroding and metal fatiguing environment – is a major cause of the loss of ships, vessels and tankers. Each year over 400 ocean-going ships sink , many as a result of weakened structures due to corrosion and inadequate and poor welding quality . Accidents due to ship failure increased by 113% from year 2011 to year 2013.
Global financial losses are €7.9Bn from lost revenue, ship replacements and insurance compensation due to the sinking of approximately ca. 400 cargo ships each year. An additional €10.5Bn cost is required for repair and maintenance bringing the total to €18.4Bn. In addition, the loss in freight revenue through, on average, 15 days p.a. spent out of service is €9.6Bn p.a.
In order to ensure that the strength of the ship structure is kept safe for operation, regular hull inspections and repairs of paint coatings, excessively corroded plate and fatigue cracks monitoring must be carefully planned and carried out. Dry-dock inspection is mainly done to determine hull plating thickness at key points to extrapolate the extent and rate of corrosion. It is desirable to detect all cracks above a critical size that may propagate, but a complete inspection of an entire hull or just an entire weld is impractical. NDT methods have been widely used in dry-docking services to evaluate the reliability of ship structures; however it is not feasible to inspect the entire hull or even all of the major welds for cracks and defects due to time and cost constraints. Thus the primary purpose of dry-dock inspections is to determine the thickness of the hull plating at strategic points to extrapolate the extent of corrosion. Typically this is done via art ultrasonic thickness measurement . Using current NDT techniques, only 10% of the total weld length is inspected – likely unrepresentative of its condition . Additionally, these tests are manual, slow and expensive. Besides dry-dock inspections, some NDT techniques are adapted for underwater inspection of steel welds . The working conditions for divers are difficult and hazardous - new tankers are double-hulled and the inside hull is not accessible - a major limitation of manual underwater NDT by divers.
The dry-dock techniques require the vessel to be out-of-service, emptied and cleaned, entailing a two week disruption. Each day, dry dock currently costs an average of €50K per day to the operator5. In addition is the cost of the loss (~€7K/day) in potential freight revenue through the ship being out of service. The inspections are carried out manually in dry dock by workers exposed to hazardous conditions - confined spaces, toxic gases, abseiling on ropes and scaffolding. New EC regulations regarding operator safety , will increasingly prevent manual inspections. Table 2 briefly presents the challenges of the ship hull inspection technology and what ShipHullSHM will be able to do to address those challenges. More economic, less time consuming, automatic and safer inspections of ship hulls are desired. The solution should be continuous in-service monitoring for early identification of damage.
Our aim is to commercialise this method as an innovative ship hull Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system for use in noise-dominated dynamic and critical environment to improve safety and profitability of the European ship industry. ShipHullSHM seeks to implement continuous monitoring of ships hulls to localise incipient failures, thus greatly increasing the efficiency of the ship repair process, guiding shipyard operations carried out by repair and maintenance providers and supporting vessel management by ship owners. We will utilise the acoustic emission in noise-dominated dynamic, critical environments on structures requiring continuous SHM. The system comprises a networked array of passive acoustic emission sensors linked through fibre optics to an advanced signal processing unit that analyses and identifies initiated damage and incipient crack propagation in real-time, ShipHullSHM has the capability to save the EU and other countries a total of €6Bn in lost revenue, ship replacement and insurance compensation, €1.2Bn p.a.net savings to the ship operators from ShipHullSHM installation
Proposed ShipHullSHM solution
Risk based inspection techniques have demonstrated great potential in identifying problems in key structural elements and focusing resources for maintenance and inspection32. The proposed AE system will acquire and process and real-time fault event data from the entire hull volume and distribute it to crew, owners and operators, thus providing a precise, up-to-date evaluation of the complete status of the hull. We expect ShipHullSHM to increase both safety and efficiency in the European ship repair industry. This will be by determining the location of propagating cracks prior to surveys and enabling subsequent repairs without inspection of an entire weld or hull area, effecting more efficient repair turnaround, and enhancing the capacity of existing dry-dock. Our long term experience working with NDT technology enables us to develop an innovative SHM technology based on AE.
Since 2012, ETSSI has been developing this progressive ShipHullSHM approach. We have carried out initial market and condition monitoring development on a ship hull structure in compliance with the requirements of the RINa Italian Classification Register, and conversations with NDT R&D organisations are ongoing. We have developed and tested AE based inspection tools and are confident that AE will eventually become a major tool for SHM of large structures once our prototype has been developed to commercial readiness. To confirm the foreseen market opportunity for ShipHullSHM, we have conducted a feasibility study for our product with EU SMEi Phase 1 funding. The study verifies the technical requirements and economic viability of applying AE to in-service SHM of ship hulls. To date AE has not been fully exploited in this sector and our proposed application represents considerable novelty. We examine component availability and pricing, potential maintenance operation scenarios and scheduling plans where ShipHullSHM will confer benefits.
Planned technology development route and long term enhancement strategy;
ETSSI’s aim is to commercialise an innovative ship hull Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system for use in noise-dominated, dynamic and critical environment to improve the safety and profitability of the European ship industry. Our involvement in an EU FP-7 project CompHealth1 has provided us with the tools to bring an innovative technology in Acoustic Emission (AE) to our core customers within the ship industry. Our main technical objectives are:
• To enhance a technologically-advanced SHM tool, capable of fully automated, real-time, continuous, low-cost and permanently mounted Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring of SHM of ship hull structures whilst in service and throughout their service life. Until marketing activities are complete, we are currently calling this tool - ShipHullSHM.
• To prove 100% inspection of the total weld length.
• To improve operational downtime by reducing inspection times by 1.5 days per year, with consequent savings of €81K per ship (plus €10.5K in increased freight revenue). Each year 16,550 vessels of various types (ship, oil tanker, etc.) and in various condition need maintenance and inspection . Deducting the system cost of the C19.3K per annum, the potential total savings to ship operators is ca. €1.2 Bn per year, (see section 2.1
This ShipHullSHM Phase 1 study has been implemented within the scope of Horizon 2020’s SME call topic: Small business innovation research for Transport (IT-1-2015-1). We are addressing the challenge of “ensuring and enhancing the safety of waterborne operations, through pioneering detail design of vessel hulls and systems”, and through a mature approach to AE based maintenance. ShipHullSHM will permit safer and more economic operation of passenger and cargo vessels, facilitate operational streamlining of shipping schedules and repair docks, and contribute to a reduction in the frequency of maritime disasters and accidents that lead to high costs in terms of loss of life and environmental and economic impact. We propose an autonomous integrity monitoring solution, which has synergies with existing Information and Communication Technologies systems that currently monitor vessels, freight and port services. As a safety tool, and thus a central part of better integrated systems for management of waterborne transport, ShipHullSHM will contribute to building a comprehensive "e-maritime" environment allowing maritime transport to achieve its full economic-competitive potential across the EU. As our current TRL level is 6, this Phase 1 study has enabled us to finalise the business plan up to market replication, where we will be able to achieve near-commercialisation of the product, if not immediate commercialisation. Considering the economic, environmental and social benefit of our proposed technology, ShipHullSHM's objective directly addresses the main purpose of the H2020 work programme. "The European transport sector must have the capacity to deliver the best products and services, in a time and cost efficient manner, in order to preserve its leadership and create new jobs, as well as to tackle the environmental and mobility defies."
In the ship industry, structural failure - due to the severe corroding and metal fatiguing environment – is a major cause of the loss of ships, vessels and tankers. Each year over 400 ocean-going ships sink , many as a result of weakened structures due to corrosion and inadequate and poor welding quality . Accidents due to ship failure increased by 113% from year 2011 to year 2013.
Global financial losses are €7.9Bn from lost revenue, ship replacements and insurance compensation due to the sinking of approximately ca. 400 cargo ships each year. An additional €10.5Bn cost is required for repair and maintenance bringing the total to €18.4Bn. In addition, the loss in freight revenue through, on average, 15 days p.a. spent out of service is €9.6Bn p.a.
In order to ensure that the strength of the ship structure is kept safe for operation, regular hull inspections and repairs of paint coatings, excessively corroded plate and fatigue cracks monitoring must be carefully planned and carried out. Dry-dock inspection is mainly done to determine hull plating thickness at key points to extrapolate the extent and rate of corrosion. It is desirable to detect all cracks above a critical size that may propagate, but a complete inspection of an entire hull or just an entire weld is impractical. NDT methods have been widely used in dry-docking services to evaluate the reliability of ship structures; however it is not feasible to inspect the entire hull or even all of the major welds for cracks and defects due to time and cost constraints. Thus the primary purpose of dry-dock inspections is to determine the thickness of the hull plating at strategic points to extrapolate the extent of corrosion. Typically this is done via art ultrasonic thickness measurement . Using current NDT techniques, only 10% of the total weld length is inspected – likely unrepresentative of its condition . Additionally, these tests are manual, slow and expensive. Besides dry-dock inspections, some NDT techniques are adapted for underwater inspection of steel welds . The working conditions for divers are difficult and hazardous - new tankers are double-hulled and the inside hull is not accessible - a major limitation of manual underwater NDT by divers.
The dry-dock techniques require the vessel to be out-of-service, emptied and cleaned, entailing a two week disruption. Each day, dry dock currently costs an average of €50K per day to the operator5. In addition is the cost of the loss (~€7K/day) in potential freight revenue through the ship being out of service. The inspections are carried out manually in dry dock by workers exposed to hazardous conditions - confined spaces, toxic gases, abseiling on ropes and scaffolding. New EC regulations regarding operator safety , will increasingly prevent manual inspections. Table 2 briefly presents the challenges of the ship hull inspection technology and what ShipHullSHM will be able to do to address those challenges. More economic, less time consuming, automatic and safer inspections of ship hulls are desired. The solution should be continuous in-service monitoring for early identification of damage.
Our aim is to commercialise this method as an innovative ship hull Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system for use in noise-dominated dynamic and critical environment to improve safety and profitability of the European ship industry. ShipHullSHM seeks to implement continuous monitoring of ships hulls to localise incipient failures, thus greatly increasing the efficiency of the ship repair process, guiding shipyard operations carried out by repair and maintenance providers and supporting vessel management by ship owners. We will utilise the acoustic emission in noise-dominated dynamic, critical environments on structures requiring continuous SHM. The system comprises a networked array of passive acoustic emission sensors linked through fibre optics to an advanced signal processing unit that analyses and identifies initiated damage and incipient crack propagation in real-time, ShipHullSHM has the capability to save the EU and other countries a total of €6Bn in lost revenue, ship replacement and insurance compensation, €1.2Bn p.a.net savings to the ship operators from ShipHullSHM installation
Proposed ShipHullSHM solution
Risk based inspection techniques have demonstrated great potential in identifying problems in key structural elements and focusing resources for maintenance and inspection32. The proposed AE system will acquire and process and real-time fault event data from the entire hull volume and distribute it to crew, owners and operators, thus providing a precise, up-to-date evaluation of the complete status of the hull. We expect ShipHullSHM to increase both safety and efficiency in the European ship repair industry. This will be by determining the location of propagating cracks prior to surveys and enabling subsequent repairs without inspection of an entire weld or hull area, effecting more efficient repair turnaround, and enhancing the capacity of existing dry-dock. Our long term experience working with NDT technology enables us to develop an innovative SHM technology based on AE.
Since 2012, ETSSI has been developing this progressive ShipHullSHM approach. We have carried out initial market and condition monitoring development on a ship hull structure in compliance with the requirements of the RINa Italian Classification Register, and conversations with NDT R&D organisations are ongoing. We have developed and tested AE based inspection tools and are confident that AE will eventually become a major tool for SHM of large structures once our prototype has been developed to commercial readiness. To confirm the foreseen market opportunity for ShipHullSHM, we have conducted a feasibility study for our product with EU SMEi Phase 1 funding. The study verifies the technical requirements and economic viability of applying AE to in-service SHM of ship hulls. To date AE has not been fully exploited in this sector and our proposed application represents considerable novelty. We examine component availability and pricing, potential maintenance operation scenarios and scheduling plans where ShipHullSHM will confer benefits.
Planned technology development route and long term enhancement strategy;
ETSSI’s aim is to commercialise an innovative ship hull Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system for use in noise-dominated, dynamic and critical environment to improve the safety and profitability of the European ship industry. Our involvement in an EU FP-7 project CompHealth1 has provided us with the tools to bring an innovative technology in Acoustic Emission (AE) to our core customers within the ship industry. Our main technical objectives are:
• To enhance a technologically-advanced SHM tool, capable of fully automated, real-time, continuous, low-cost and permanently mounted Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring of SHM of ship hull structures whilst in service and throughout their service life. Until marketing activities are complete, we are currently calling this tool - ShipHullSHM.
• To prove 100% inspection of the total weld length.
• To improve operational downtime by reducing inspection times by 1.5 days per year, with consequent savings of €81K per ship (plus €10.5K in increased freight revenue). Each year 16,550 vessels of various types (ship, oil tanker, etc.) and in various condition need maintenance and inspection . Deducting the system cost of the C19.3K per annum, the potential total savings to ship operators is ca. €1.2 Bn per year, (see section 2.1
This ShipHullSHM Phase 1 study has been implemented within the scope of Horizon 2020’s SME call topic: Small business innovation research for Transport (IT-1-2015-1). We are addressing the challenge of “ensuring and enhancing the safety of waterborne operations, through pioneering detail design of vessel hulls and systems”, and through a mature approach to AE based maintenance. ShipHullSHM will permit safer and more economic operation of passenger and cargo vessels, facilitate operational streamlining of shipping schedules and repair docks, and contribute to a reduction in the frequency of maritime disasters and accidents that lead to high costs in terms of loss of life and environmental and economic impact. We propose an autonomous integrity monitoring solution, which has synergies with existing Information and Communication Technologies systems that currently monitor vessels, freight and port services. As a safety tool, and thus a central part of better integrated systems for management of waterborne transport, ShipHullSHM will contribute to building a comprehensive "e-maritime" environment allowing maritime transport to achieve its full economic-competitive potential across the EU. As our current TRL level is 6, this Phase 1 study has enabled us to finalise the business plan up to market replication, where we will be able to achieve near-commercialisation of the product, if not immediate commercialisation. Considering the economic, environmental and social benefit of our proposed technology, ShipHullSHM's objective directly addresses the main purpose of the H2020 work programme. "The European transport sector must have the capacity to deliver the best products and services, in a time and cost efficient manner, in order to preserve its leadership and create new jobs, as well as to tackle the environmental and mobility defies."
Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far
During this Phase 1 project, we have considered market opportunity (size, growth, needs), value proposition, IP strategy, solution technology and financial projections.
Value proposition
The main benefits/development that ShipHullSHM will bring to Europe, in terms of improved competitiveness in the NDT inspection, are:
(i) Introduction of innovative AE technology for the first time with the aim for the EU to be a world leader within the ship repair and maintenance sector
(ii) Perform SHM of critical ship hull welds while the ship is in operation which is unique and will have an immediate and lasting advantage for European ship owner/operators in terms of reducing their downtime and increasing revenue earning availability with an enhanced confidence level as to ship hull structural integrity
(iii) Providing many benefits over dry-dock method, and therefore the hazardous expensive and disruptive dry- dock method can be avoided
(iv) Prevention of ships sinking and lives lost by providing high quality automated inspection, repair and maintenance
(v) Maintenance of the competitiveness of EU SMEs, so that business is not lost to SE Asia and China.
Our aim is to commercialise an innovative ship hull Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system for use in noise- dominated dynamic and critical environment to improve the safety and profitability of the European ship industry. Our involvement in an EU FP-7 project CompHealth1 has provided us with the tools to bring an Innovative technology in Acoustic Emission (AE) to our core customers within the ship industry. Our main technical objectives are:
• To enhance a novel advanced SHM tool which is completely automated, real-time, continuous, low-cost and permanently mounted Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring for SHM of ship hull structures whilst in service and throughout their service life. Until further marketing activities are undertaken during the feasibility study, for the benefit of this proposal, we will call this tool ShipHullSHM.
• To prove 100% of the total weld length inspection.
• An improvement of downtime due to reduction in inspection by 1.5 days per year, consequently C81K savings per ship (plus €10,5k in increased freight revenue). Each year 16,550 different types of vessels (ship, oil tanker, etc.) need maintenance and inspection . Deducting the system cost of the C19.3K p.a the potential total savings to ship operators is ca. €1.2 Bn per year, (see section 2.1 Expected Impacts for detailed calculations).
Besides the ship industry, the tool is useful for offshore oil and gas industry which will be our second target market.
Technical developments
The SHM system based on ShipHullSHM will consist of the following subsystems:
• Acquisition and Elaboration system as discussed in section 1.5.
• Sensors with different features dedicated for High Noise Environments and able to identify in critical area:Leaks, Corrosion, Crack propagations.
• Software Analyser able to classify and evaluate with clusters and neural networking different signals reached by sensors.
• On-Line Calibrator to evaluate the activities of sensors at defined intervals
• Parametric sensors that, together with the AE sensors, can help in the analysis and evaluation steps: these could measure temperatures, pressures, thickness of steel and painting, pH, etc.
• Dedicated signal cables and amplifiers
Based on our experience in the EU CompHealth project we will develop the tools and processes innovated there for RF inspection to accommodate AE sensors. This is a standard engineering process but we will need to consider and satisfactorily resolve several important features of the new solution:
• AE sensor array configuration must satisfy end-user needs (this will vary significantly from one type and size of vessel to another);
• Nature of sensory information and data will be different from the CompHealth eddy current information and will require clear definition of specific sampling frequency, data bandwidths, and data processing requirements;
• AE sensor attachment mechanism must be adequately configure to transmit signals across the hull sensor interface;
• Sufficiently rugged and robust for the best possible engineering lifetime of 15 years’ operation in a harsh environment
• Costs must be properly developed to achieve economic operation;
• As the AE sensor is itself passive the pattern of deployment of power supplies, transformers and transceivers will be bespoke;
• Any multiple sensor capability (e.g. use alongside RF eddy current measurements) must be allowed for;
• Our technologically advanced AE sensor system and all its components must be developed and proofed in accordance with regulations covering maintenance standards pertaining to ship classification and certified by an appropriate body (e.g. LR);
• Bespoke AE signal processing tools and software with a guided user interface
ETSSI will contribute directly to the engineering development of all these sub-systems but we will also engage any further development partners and subcontractors needed for the Stage II project. We have a long=standing technology relationship with Brunel University and will consider them to be our primary engineering partner. We will also utilise our existing suppliers and seek additional supply chain partners to deliver the data processing sub-systems for production. These data systems are not considered to be significant technical hurdles and can in large be ordered from our supply chain.
Commercialisation strategy
During this phase 1 feasibility study we have identified RTD, manufacturing and supply chian partners to complete the production manufacturing of the ShipHullSHM solution. We are intending initially to market these systems ourselves and are in discussions to set up contracts with technology manufacturers. As an active NDT Inspection Maintenance and Repair SME, ETSSI will be the initial provider of a handful (~2-3) of smaller-scale trial systems for the first 2 or 3 years. Beyond this point, we expect demands and disparate requirements for systems across Europe to be high enough to require licensed manufacturing by 3rd party NDT companies and IRM suppliers. We will also implement variants of ShipHullSHM for non-maritime market sectors that will require extensive servicing through 3rd party licensing from the outset.
Our strategy is to develop first a focussed sensor product for a small scale market bespoke for one or two specific first end-users, to prove the technology in these instances and then look further afield to new customers. We are planning to segment our market penetration into phases:
Our new NDT tool will be completely innovative. We will need strong strategic alliances with the ship industry for market entry, such as Lloyd's Register. As initial promotion of our product, and as a method of building consumer confidence, we plan to provide 2 to 3 trial systems to some selected ship companies for the first 2 years of the Phase 2 project. After running several test trials with the trial versions, we are expecting significant attention from the shipping industry. As the main strategy to involve stakeholders, we would like to run similar test trials with large shipping companies, which have significant operations in different EU countries, to obtain maximum exposure. We will create specification lists for different clients' requirements (considering the ShipHullSHM system depends on the size of the ship) to design a unique repair and monitoring tool to be finalised in Phase 2 and thereafter. We will investigate the technical feasibility of these specifications and identify the optimised option for the SHM tool. However, before commercialising the ShipHullSHM system we need to obtain different related standard certification (e.g. ASTM E749-01 for continuous welding inspection, ISO 12713 1998 for the primary calibration of transducers, etc.) and in the feasibility study we will investigate different specifications required to obtain these standard certificates. Due to the significant potential with efficient monitoring power, we are bound to face strong resistance from competitors (such as Exxon Nuclear, ABS etc.). In order to overcome this entry barrier, we have to investigate the competitors, their different methods, the patent landscape, supply chain and strategic alliances. This will help us to anticipate their future moves. We would like to gradually build industry confidence on our product. We will identify different risks associated with our business plan and create the appropriate mitigation plan.
Phase II engineering development to initial end user
We need around €4M for further research, development and commissioning of a manufacturing plant to enable us to increase output to meet the anticipated demand. We will apply for €2.5M investment from the EC's SME instrument Phase 2 funding scheme. Another €1M will be in-kind contribution. For commercialisation and marketing we will need €0.5M. For this, potential Strategic Partners, Ship company owners. Bank, venture capitalist and other Financiers will be sought out to invest.
As described in Section 2, all crucial foreground IP is held by ETSSI and background IP is accessible through our relationship with Brunel University. In our engineering commercialisation project we anticipate no need to include additional project beneficiaries but will work with other partners on addressing particular component technologies and certification requirements.
Design copyrights and technical knowhow will be developed relating to these items and we will therefore need to implement new IPR protection for the partners involved. In particular, eventual modifications required to end-users’ requirements to accommodate sensing functionality will be handled sensitively.
Engagement with classification societies
We will leverage the unique benefits that ShipHullSHM offers to the establishment of intimate engagement of ship owners/operators with classification societies. The engagement has been demonstrated to enhance fleet management efficiency and operating cost effectiveness which are vital for economic survival. Classification registration and engagement provides the following desirable characteristics.
• Provides an independent evaluation of the condition of your ship.
• Helps you demonstrate the operational reliability of your ships, regardless of their age.
• Leads to preferential chartering opportunities and the potential for increased earnings.
• Helps in the early identification of deficiencies, maximising on-hire time and reducing unplanned maintenance.
• Assists in maximising residual asset value.
Exploitation of results
Our aim is to commercialise an innovative ship hull testing methodology for effective AE based inspection planning. We have tested our new innovative technology in a relevant environment.
We have planned a draft exploitation plan covering the first 10 years post-project. We will prepare a complete feasibility analysis document in 6 months (project duration).The 12-month post-project period will be used to explore funding sources to take the technology to higher TRL levels and on to full commercialisation. The final tool will be ready for commercialisation by 2019, provided that the required funding is ensured. European supply chain of the ship industry including end users, manufacturers, and tier 1 suppliers will be formalised. We would anticipate entering the European market, starting with the biggest ship industries in the EL) such as Germany, UK, Italy and The Netherlands, then to other EU countries and finally outside of Europe. In 5 years after completion of the tool (by 2023), we expect to enter the world market,
Communications and promotion
A policy of wide dissemination of project results will be pursued (dissemination by any RTD subcontractors or partners of the innovation project will be screened by a Project Steering Committee set up to ensure that potential patent and intellectual property is not endangered). An Exploitation Manager will also be appointed – likely, ETSSI’s Alberto Monic – who will champion dissemination of information, particularly for the purpose of ensuring future exploitation during the innovation project. General dissemination activities will include:
• The inclusion of project results on the partner(s)’ web sites.
• The publication of project results in technical papers, trade journals and conferences that are regularly accessed by the shipping industry. including Lloyds List, RINA publication, IMaREST, etc.
• Disclosure of information through project brochure to relevant associations (e.g. members of the SME-AG AIPnD), ECSA (European Community Ship owner's Association), and other associated organisations such as European Federation of Non-Destructive Testing, of whom AlPnD are a member.
• Dissemination will also take place at general shipping and specialist shipping (e.g. oil tankers, LNG carriers) trade events.
• The consortium benefits from the inclusion of major European shipping certification authorities that are able to enforce the use of the developed technology should it confirm the improvements in ship operations safety and economics.
• The partners will publish papers in refereed high impact factor journals on the development and application of AE sensors and acquisition systems, wave modelling techniques, data transmitters etc., for real-time health monitoring of ships.
Dissemination of the project’s non-confidential technical findings will occur at three levels. At the first level, the consortium will disseminate the main key findings produced within the project to the shipping industry related organisations that have been invited by the consortium to follow up the research conducted within the project and through the multidisciplinary and also through the multi-sectorial links of the individual consortium members to the industry, educational and research institutes, training organisations, policy makers and public interest groups.
Commercial delivery vehicles
Our initial engineering development and manufacturing will be undertaken by ETSSI acting as system integrator and marketer of a small number (2-5) of large scale sensor array systems, comprising around 15 AE sensor nodes networked on suitable sized ships. Our early sales will be in the European/Mediterranean geographical sector where we have already established a strong reputation for both traditional and advanced NDT support services. Once our first ShipHullSHM systems have been adopted and proven we will look to expanding our market globally. This will require interaction and collaboration with internal selling agents, repair and maintenance engineering houses and shipyards. Manufacturing and service supply will be then be undertaken under licensing arrangements with local Chinese, Korean or US companies, with ETSSI retaining control of future development and innovation.
It is foreseen that we will maintain our collaboration with the R&D organisations who have helped us push the technology forward and will set up further subcontract development programmes or consider commercial partnerships if appropriate at that stage.
Value proposition
The main benefits/development that ShipHullSHM will bring to Europe, in terms of improved competitiveness in the NDT inspection, are:
(i) Introduction of innovative AE technology for the first time with the aim for the EU to be a world leader within the ship repair and maintenance sector
(ii) Perform SHM of critical ship hull welds while the ship is in operation which is unique and will have an immediate and lasting advantage for European ship owner/operators in terms of reducing their downtime and increasing revenue earning availability with an enhanced confidence level as to ship hull structural integrity
(iii) Providing many benefits over dry-dock method, and therefore the hazardous expensive and disruptive dry- dock method can be avoided
(iv) Prevention of ships sinking and lives lost by providing high quality automated inspection, repair and maintenance
(v) Maintenance of the competitiveness of EU SMEs, so that business is not lost to SE Asia and China.
Our aim is to commercialise an innovative ship hull Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system for use in noise- dominated dynamic and critical environment to improve the safety and profitability of the European ship industry. Our involvement in an EU FP-7 project CompHealth1 has provided us with the tools to bring an Innovative technology in Acoustic Emission (AE) to our core customers within the ship industry. Our main technical objectives are:
• To enhance a novel advanced SHM tool which is completely automated, real-time, continuous, low-cost and permanently mounted Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring for SHM of ship hull structures whilst in service and throughout their service life. Until further marketing activities are undertaken during the feasibility study, for the benefit of this proposal, we will call this tool ShipHullSHM.
• To prove 100% of the total weld length inspection.
• An improvement of downtime due to reduction in inspection by 1.5 days per year, consequently C81K savings per ship (plus €10,5k in increased freight revenue). Each year 16,550 different types of vessels (ship, oil tanker, etc.) need maintenance and inspection . Deducting the system cost of the C19.3K p.a the potential total savings to ship operators is ca. €1.2 Bn per year, (see section 2.1 Expected Impacts for detailed calculations).
Besides the ship industry, the tool is useful for offshore oil and gas industry which will be our second target market.
Technical developments
The SHM system based on ShipHullSHM will consist of the following subsystems:
• Acquisition and Elaboration system as discussed in section 1.5.
• Sensors with different features dedicated for High Noise Environments and able to identify in critical area:Leaks, Corrosion, Crack propagations.
• Software Analyser able to classify and evaluate with clusters and neural networking different signals reached by sensors.
• On-Line Calibrator to evaluate the activities of sensors at defined intervals
• Parametric sensors that, together with the AE sensors, can help in the analysis and evaluation steps: these could measure temperatures, pressures, thickness of steel and painting, pH, etc.
• Dedicated signal cables and amplifiers
Based on our experience in the EU CompHealth project we will develop the tools and processes innovated there for RF inspection to accommodate AE sensors. This is a standard engineering process but we will need to consider and satisfactorily resolve several important features of the new solution:
• AE sensor array configuration must satisfy end-user needs (this will vary significantly from one type and size of vessel to another);
• Nature of sensory information and data will be different from the CompHealth eddy current information and will require clear definition of specific sampling frequency, data bandwidths, and data processing requirements;
• AE sensor attachment mechanism must be adequately configure to transmit signals across the hull sensor interface;
• Sufficiently rugged and robust for the best possible engineering lifetime of 15 years’ operation in a harsh environment
• Costs must be properly developed to achieve economic operation;
• As the AE sensor is itself passive the pattern of deployment of power supplies, transformers and transceivers will be bespoke;
• Any multiple sensor capability (e.g. use alongside RF eddy current measurements) must be allowed for;
• Our technologically advanced AE sensor system and all its components must be developed and proofed in accordance with regulations covering maintenance standards pertaining to ship classification and certified by an appropriate body (e.g. LR);
• Bespoke AE signal processing tools and software with a guided user interface
ETSSI will contribute directly to the engineering development of all these sub-systems but we will also engage any further development partners and subcontractors needed for the Stage II project. We have a long=standing technology relationship with Brunel University and will consider them to be our primary engineering partner. We will also utilise our existing suppliers and seek additional supply chain partners to deliver the data processing sub-systems for production. These data systems are not considered to be significant technical hurdles and can in large be ordered from our supply chain.
Commercialisation strategy
During this phase 1 feasibility study we have identified RTD, manufacturing and supply chian partners to complete the production manufacturing of the ShipHullSHM solution. We are intending initially to market these systems ourselves and are in discussions to set up contracts with technology manufacturers. As an active NDT Inspection Maintenance and Repair SME, ETSSI will be the initial provider of a handful (~2-3) of smaller-scale trial systems for the first 2 or 3 years. Beyond this point, we expect demands and disparate requirements for systems across Europe to be high enough to require licensed manufacturing by 3rd party NDT companies and IRM suppliers. We will also implement variants of ShipHullSHM for non-maritime market sectors that will require extensive servicing through 3rd party licensing from the outset.
Our strategy is to develop first a focussed sensor product for a small scale market bespoke for one or two specific first end-users, to prove the technology in these instances and then look further afield to new customers. We are planning to segment our market penetration into phases:
Our new NDT tool will be completely innovative. We will need strong strategic alliances with the ship industry for market entry, such as Lloyd's Register. As initial promotion of our product, and as a method of building consumer confidence, we plan to provide 2 to 3 trial systems to some selected ship companies for the first 2 years of the Phase 2 project. After running several test trials with the trial versions, we are expecting significant attention from the shipping industry. As the main strategy to involve stakeholders, we would like to run similar test trials with large shipping companies, which have significant operations in different EU countries, to obtain maximum exposure. We will create specification lists for different clients' requirements (considering the ShipHullSHM system depends on the size of the ship) to design a unique repair and monitoring tool to be finalised in Phase 2 and thereafter. We will investigate the technical feasibility of these specifications and identify the optimised option for the SHM tool. However, before commercialising the ShipHullSHM system we need to obtain different related standard certification (e.g. ASTM E749-01 for continuous welding inspection, ISO 12713 1998 for the primary calibration of transducers, etc.) and in the feasibility study we will investigate different specifications required to obtain these standard certificates. Due to the significant potential with efficient monitoring power, we are bound to face strong resistance from competitors (such as Exxon Nuclear, ABS etc.). In order to overcome this entry barrier, we have to investigate the competitors, their different methods, the patent landscape, supply chain and strategic alliances. This will help us to anticipate their future moves. We would like to gradually build industry confidence on our product. We will identify different risks associated with our business plan and create the appropriate mitigation plan.
Phase II engineering development to initial end user
We need around €4M for further research, development and commissioning of a manufacturing plant to enable us to increase output to meet the anticipated demand. We will apply for €2.5M investment from the EC's SME instrument Phase 2 funding scheme. Another €1M will be in-kind contribution. For commercialisation and marketing we will need €0.5M. For this, potential Strategic Partners, Ship company owners. Bank, venture capitalist and other Financiers will be sought out to invest.
As described in Section 2, all crucial foreground IP is held by ETSSI and background IP is accessible through our relationship with Brunel University. In our engineering commercialisation project we anticipate no need to include additional project beneficiaries but will work with other partners on addressing particular component technologies and certification requirements.
Design copyrights and technical knowhow will be developed relating to these items and we will therefore need to implement new IPR protection for the partners involved. In particular, eventual modifications required to end-users’ requirements to accommodate sensing functionality will be handled sensitively.
Engagement with classification societies
We will leverage the unique benefits that ShipHullSHM offers to the establishment of intimate engagement of ship owners/operators with classification societies. The engagement has been demonstrated to enhance fleet management efficiency and operating cost effectiveness which are vital for economic survival. Classification registration and engagement provides the following desirable characteristics.
• Provides an independent evaluation of the condition of your ship.
• Helps you demonstrate the operational reliability of your ships, regardless of their age.
• Leads to preferential chartering opportunities and the potential for increased earnings.
• Helps in the early identification of deficiencies, maximising on-hire time and reducing unplanned maintenance.
• Assists in maximising residual asset value.
Exploitation of results
Our aim is to commercialise an innovative ship hull testing methodology for effective AE based inspection planning. We have tested our new innovative technology in a relevant environment.
We have planned a draft exploitation plan covering the first 10 years post-project. We will prepare a complete feasibility analysis document in 6 months (project duration).The 12-month post-project period will be used to explore funding sources to take the technology to higher TRL levels and on to full commercialisation. The final tool will be ready for commercialisation by 2019, provided that the required funding is ensured. European supply chain of the ship industry including end users, manufacturers, and tier 1 suppliers will be formalised. We would anticipate entering the European market, starting with the biggest ship industries in the EL) such as Germany, UK, Italy and The Netherlands, then to other EU countries and finally outside of Europe. In 5 years after completion of the tool (by 2023), we expect to enter the world market,
Communications and promotion
A policy of wide dissemination of project results will be pursued (dissemination by any RTD subcontractors or partners of the innovation project will be screened by a Project Steering Committee set up to ensure that potential patent and intellectual property is not endangered). An Exploitation Manager will also be appointed – likely, ETSSI’s Alberto Monic – who will champion dissemination of information, particularly for the purpose of ensuring future exploitation during the innovation project. General dissemination activities will include:
• The inclusion of project results on the partner(s)’ web sites.
• The publication of project results in technical papers, trade journals and conferences that are regularly accessed by the shipping industry. including Lloyds List, RINA publication, IMaREST, etc.
• Disclosure of information through project brochure to relevant associations (e.g. members of the SME-AG AIPnD), ECSA (European Community Ship owner's Association), and other associated organisations such as European Federation of Non-Destructive Testing, of whom AlPnD are a member.
• Dissemination will also take place at general shipping and specialist shipping (e.g. oil tankers, LNG carriers) trade events.
• The consortium benefits from the inclusion of major European shipping certification authorities that are able to enforce the use of the developed technology should it confirm the improvements in ship operations safety and economics.
• The partners will publish papers in refereed high impact factor journals on the development and application of AE sensors and acquisition systems, wave modelling techniques, data transmitters etc., for real-time health monitoring of ships.
Dissemination of the project’s non-confidential technical findings will occur at three levels. At the first level, the consortium will disseminate the main key findings produced within the project to the shipping industry related organisations that have been invited by the consortium to follow up the research conducted within the project and through the multidisciplinary and also through the multi-sectorial links of the individual consortium members to the industry, educational and research institutes, training organisations, policy makers and public interest groups.
Commercial delivery vehicles
Our initial engineering development and manufacturing will be undertaken by ETSSI acting as system integrator and marketer of a small number (2-5) of large scale sensor array systems, comprising around 15 AE sensor nodes networked on suitable sized ships. Our early sales will be in the European/Mediterranean geographical sector where we have already established a strong reputation for both traditional and advanced NDT support services. Once our first ShipHullSHM systems have been adopted and proven we will look to expanding our market globally. This will require interaction and collaboration with internal selling agents, repair and maintenance engineering houses and shipyards. Manufacturing and service supply will be then be undertaken under licensing arrangements with local Chinese, Korean or US companies, with ETSSI retaining control of future development and innovation.
It is foreseen that we will maintain our collaboration with the R&D organisations who have helped us push the technology forward and will set up further subcontract development programmes or consider commercial partnerships if appropriate at that stage.
Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)
Economic benefits
The overall goal of ShipHullSHM is to increase safety and simultaneously increase the efficiency of the European ship repair industry. It will do this by determining the locality of propagating cracks prior to surveys. Subsequent repairs can then be carried out without having to inspect an entire weld or hull area. More efficient repair turnaround means that more work can be carried out within the capacity of existing dry-dock facilities with improved sustainability of the industry. Ship operators will be attracted to purchasing the system because of its extremely low capital cost of €111K - €290K, dependent on ship size, which is only €8K - €20K p.a. assuming a 15 year system life before replacement. Installed on a ship, the system will automatically produce a real-time report on the structural health so that essential repairs can be carried out during planned maintenance schedules, avoiding removal of ships from service for emergency repairs. Because the system will identify early stage damage, repairs can be carried out without costly repairs. Repair and maintenance savings are considered for ShipHullSHM in the first 4 years of commercialisation based on 126 systems installed on average capacity ships, including savings in lost freight revenue. For a nominal ship of 100K DWT the existing repair and maintenance bill based on a unit cost of €8.1/DWT/annum is €810K p.a. Average time out of service p.a. is about 10.5 days, 30% of which will be spent in a single period of several weeks dry dock every 3-5 years. The cost can be seen as rate of €81K per day spread between scaffolding, labour, crane hire, and inspection and repair equipment. The ShipHullSHM target is to reduce these costs and time by 10% i.e. a saving of 0.1 x €810K = €81K per ship p.a. The savings in repair time are 1.5 days per ship so freight revenue can also be increased by 1.5/365 =0.41%. Globally, freight revenue of €333Bn p.a. is carried by a total DWT of 1.3Bn tonnes (€25.6 per DWT). So freight revenue of a 100K DWT ship of €2.56M p.a. is increased by 0.0041 x €2.56M p.a. = €10,500 p.a. The lifetime of the ShipHullSHM system before replacement or progressive upgrading is targeted at 15 years so system capital cost can be counted as 290/15 = €19.3K p.a. Net savings to the shipping operator from a ShipHullSHM installation are €81K + €10.5K - €19.3K = €72K p.a.
Market characteristics: The sensor market for NDT and SHM suppliers is dominated by SMEs which are the first links in a supply chain leading through to service inspection and SHM companies, certification authorities, ship building, ship maintenance/repair companies and the ship owners and operators. This supply chain will be reflected in the consortium for our subsequent innovation project. There are approximately 2,800 European sensor manufacturers, of which over 93% are SMEs. (We have identified one particular SME-AG, with over 642 members – we shall enter into discussions with such SME-AGs during our feasibility project.) Every year about 400 cargo ships sink4, involving global financial losses totalling €7.9Bn from lost revenue, ship replacements and insurance compensation. Global scheduled maintenance and repair costs amount to €10.5Bn p.a.Error! Bookmark not defined., bringing the total to €18.4Bn. In addition the loss in freight revenue through 10.5 days p.a. spent on average out of service for is €9.6Bn p.a. On this basis we believe owners and operators will willingly pay for ShipHullSHM.
Market trends: There are about 15,000 inspection, repair and maintenance SMEs in Europe, of which 933 are marine NDT inspection SMEs who will benefit directly from the projectError! Bookmark not defined.. However, a much larger proportion will benefit because there will be large secondary markets for ShipHullSHM in the in-service SHM of civil engineering structures generally, such as bridges, wind turbine towers, process and energy generation offshore oil platforms etc., as well as aircraft.
European market revenues
The use of AE for ship applications has shown promising results for defect detection, location and identification. All usual NDT techniques for ship hull structures require dry-docking inspection, which is both sensitive to human errors and costly, and puts the ship out of service for many days or weeks. It is obviously important to detect, identify and take early corrective action to prevent hull structural failures. In the pursuit of real-time monitoring, and early detection and hull damage identification, the processing of AE events can be used to monitor ship exposure to external stress in-service using a relatively small number of sensors. The external dynamic stresses introduced by waves and cargo movements outside and inside the shell, respectively, are strong sources of AE signals.
To date, a number of methods have been used to carry out ship hull inspection and they are neither economic nor fast. ShipHullSHM would be a viable and versatile substitute method. The complete marine inspector must be capable of measuring pit depth, coating quality, detecting fractures and excessive surface corrosion. Ultrasonic thickness measurements of remaining steel thickness is one form of inspection. Table 5 lists the major limitations of some methods.
End users
The design and the implementation of novel low-cost, low-energy and permanently mounted AE sensor-units will bring many benefits to sensor producing SMEs. These novel sensor-units will support several operation modes, such as data collection, signal processing, data analysis, etc. Moreover, many benefits for software SMEs, especially for software communications SMEs, will be provided as huge amounts of real-time data will need to be transmitted from the AE sensors-units to shipping enterprise using cables and fibre optics. The sensor/software products will be sold to SMEs who provide installation, inspection and monitoring (IRM) services. These IRM SMEs represent the most relevant immediate end-users of ShipHullSHM and are our initial market.
There are about 15,000 inspection, repair and maintenance SMEs in Europe, of which 933 are marine NDT inspection SMEs, who will benefit directly from the project11. The sensor market for NDT and SHM suppliers is dominated by SMEs which are the first links in a supply chain leading through to service inspection and SHM companies, certification authorities, ship building, ship maintenance/repair companies and the ship owners and operators. This supply chain will be reflected in the consortium for our proposed innovation project. There are approximately 2,800 European sensor manufacturers, of which over 93% are SMEs. (We have identified one particular SME-AG, with over 642 members - we shall enter into discussions with such SME-AGs during our feasibility project). Every year about 400 cargo ships sink4, involving global financial losses totalling €7.9Bn (from lost revenue, ship replacements and insurance compensation). Global scheduled maintenance and repair costs amount to €10.5Bn p.a. , bringing the total to €18.4Bn. In addition the loss in freight revenue through 10.5 days p.a. spent on average out of service for is €9.6Bn p.a. On this basis we believe owners and operators will willingly pay for ShipHullSHM.
For a nominal ship of 100K DWT the existing repair and maintenance bill, based on a unit cost of €8.1/DWT/annum is C810K p.a. Average time out of service p.a. is about 10.5 days, 30% of which will be spent in a single period of several weeks dry dock every 3-5 years. The cost can be seen as rate of C81K per day spread between scaffolding, labour, crane hire, and inspection and repair equipment. The ShipHullSHM target is to reduce these costs and time by 10%, i.e. a saving of 0.1 x C810K = €81K per ship p.a. The savings in repair time are 1.5 days per ship, so freight revenue can also be increased by 1.5/365 =0.41%. Globally, freight revenue of €333Bn p.a. is carried by a total DWT of 1.3Bn tonnes7 (€25.6 per DWT). So freight revenue of a 100K DWT ship of C2.56M p.a. is increased by 0.0041 x €2.56M p.a. = €10,500 p.a. The lifetime of the ShipHullSHM system before replacement or progressive upgrading is targeted at 15 years ,so system capital cost can be counted as 290/15 = C19.3K p.a. Net savings to the shipping operator from a ShipHullSHM installation are €81K + C10.5K - C19.3K = €72K p.a. Each year 16,550 of different type of vessels (ship, oil tanker, etc.) need maintenance and inspection. If all of these used the ShipHullSHM system, a total of €1.2 bn saving could be ensured.
Beneficiaries
ETS Industrial Systems was founded in 1996 from experience in the areas of Industrial Plant Services and Contracts. The Company has developed its activities to high added value Problem Solving, building technology expertise in the semiconductor and shipping industries. ETSSI carries out systems analysis, feasibility studies, prototype development and testing, and defining acceptance criteria for 3rd party customers. Our Company is involved in Clean Room class ISOl Maintenance Services, Non Destructive Testing, Structural Monitoring Services and equipment with high added value technology. We develop instruments for physical property measurement and certification that are not currently on the market through our product development and prototyping experience. We have many years of experience in technology and product development which covers activities from conceptualisation to commercialisation. Headquartered in Italy, we also have presence in China, India, US and Middle East.
ShipHullSHM is centrally aligned with our business strategy. ETSSI carries out systems analysis; feasibility studies, prototype development and testing, and defines acceptance criteria for 3rd party customers. The new product will add another feather to our cap. Building on our long experience in safety critical NDT instrumentation development and testing for major shipping customers, ETS is convinced of the need to develop advanced, non-traditional NDT solutions for SHM and to extend our commercial activities in these areas. The overall project objectives are clearly aligned to ETSSI's business strategy of increasing profitability through innovation, thereby increasing return on investment and the competitiveness of the enterprise. The extensive and long-term experience of the company in developing NDT system development for maritime transport sector will be a key asset of the project's success.
We expect to be able to bring ShipHullSHM to the market by 2019, accessing a significant fraction of the EU IRM market, which is worth in total €10.5Bn p.a. We are initially planning to manufacture and sell €0.3M-€0.6M worth of trial systems p.a. directly ourselves, which would represent 25%-50% of our current turnover. With the reliability of the solution established licensing at a premium return of 40% will give us access to revenues exceeding €20.3M p.a. for a 0.2% penetration of the EU ship IRM market and ~70 systems p.a. Longer term there is significant opportunity to extend these sales into other NDT markets.
see also table 5 of pg.21 in the report.
The overall goal of ShipHullSHM is to increase safety and simultaneously increase the efficiency of the European ship repair industry. It will do this by determining the locality of propagating cracks prior to surveys. Subsequent repairs can then be carried out without having to inspect an entire weld or hull area. More efficient repair turnaround means that more work can be carried out within the capacity of existing dry-dock facilities with improved sustainability of the industry. Ship operators will be attracted to purchasing the system because of its extremely low capital cost of €111K - €290K, dependent on ship size, which is only €8K - €20K p.a. assuming a 15 year system life before replacement. Installed on a ship, the system will automatically produce a real-time report on the structural health so that essential repairs can be carried out during planned maintenance schedules, avoiding removal of ships from service for emergency repairs. Because the system will identify early stage damage, repairs can be carried out without costly repairs. Repair and maintenance savings are considered for ShipHullSHM in the first 4 years of commercialisation based on 126 systems installed on average capacity ships, including savings in lost freight revenue. For a nominal ship of 100K DWT the existing repair and maintenance bill based on a unit cost of €8.1/DWT/annum is €810K p.a. Average time out of service p.a. is about 10.5 days, 30% of which will be spent in a single period of several weeks dry dock every 3-5 years. The cost can be seen as rate of €81K per day spread between scaffolding, labour, crane hire, and inspection and repair equipment. The ShipHullSHM target is to reduce these costs and time by 10% i.e. a saving of 0.1 x €810K = €81K per ship p.a. The savings in repair time are 1.5 days per ship so freight revenue can also be increased by 1.5/365 =0.41%. Globally, freight revenue of €333Bn p.a. is carried by a total DWT of 1.3Bn tonnes (€25.6 per DWT). So freight revenue of a 100K DWT ship of €2.56M p.a. is increased by 0.0041 x €2.56M p.a. = €10,500 p.a. The lifetime of the ShipHullSHM system before replacement or progressive upgrading is targeted at 15 years so system capital cost can be counted as 290/15 = €19.3K p.a. Net savings to the shipping operator from a ShipHullSHM installation are €81K + €10.5K - €19.3K = €72K p.a.
Market characteristics: The sensor market for NDT and SHM suppliers is dominated by SMEs which are the first links in a supply chain leading through to service inspection and SHM companies, certification authorities, ship building, ship maintenance/repair companies and the ship owners and operators. This supply chain will be reflected in the consortium for our subsequent innovation project. There are approximately 2,800 European sensor manufacturers, of which over 93% are SMEs. (We have identified one particular SME-AG, with over 642 members – we shall enter into discussions with such SME-AGs during our feasibility project.) Every year about 400 cargo ships sink4, involving global financial losses totalling €7.9Bn from lost revenue, ship replacements and insurance compensation. Global scheduled maintenance and repair costs amount to €10.5Bn p.a.Error! Bookmark not defined., bringing the total to €18.4Bn. In addition the loss in freight revenue through 10.5 days p.a. spent on average out of service for is €9.6Bn p.a. On this basis we believe owners and operators will willingly pay for ShipHullSHM.
Market trends: There are about 15,000 inspection, repair and maintenance SMEs in Europe, of which 933 are marine NDT inspection SMEs who will benefit directly from the projectError! Bookmark not defined.. However, a much larger proportion will benefit because there will be large secondary markets for ShipHullSHM in the in-service SHM of civil engineering structures generally, such as bridges, wind turbine towers, process and energy generation offshore oil platforms etc., as well as aircraft.
European market revenues
The use of AE for ship applications has shown promising results for defect detection, location and identification. All usual NDT techniques for ship hull structures require dry-docking inspection, which is both sensitive to human errors and costly, and puts the ship out of service for many days or weeks. It is obviously important to detect, identify and take early corrective action to prevent hull structural failures. In the pursuit of real-time monitoring, and early detection and hull damage identification, the processing of AE events can be used to monitor ship exposure to external stress in-service using a relatively small number of sensors. The external dynamic stresses introduced by waves and cargo movements outside and inside the shell, respectively, are strong sources of AE signals.
To date, a number of methods have been used to carry out ship hull inspection and they are neither economic nor fast. ShipHullSHM would be a viable and versatile substitute method. The complete marine inspector must be capable of measuring pit depth, coating quality, detecting fractures and excessive surface corrosion. Ultrasonic thickness measurements of remaining steel thickness is one form of inspection. Table 5 lists the major limitations of some methods.
End users
The design and the implementation of novel low-cost, low-energy and permanently mounted AE sensor-units will bring many benefits to sensor producing SMEs. These novel sensor-units will support several operation modes, such as data collection, signal processing, data analysis, etc. Moreover, many benefits for software SMEs, especially for software communications SMEs, will be provided as huge amounts of real-time data will need to be transmitted from the AE sensors-units to shipping enterprise using cables and fibre optics. The sensor/software products will be sold to SMEs who provide installation, inspection and monitoring (IRM) services. These IRM SMEs represent the most relevant immediate end-users of ShipHullSHM and are our initial market.
There are about 15,000 inspection, repair and maintenance SMEs in Europe, of which 933 are marine NDT inspection SMEs, who will benefit directly from the project11. The sensor market for NDT and SHM suppliers is dominated by SMEs which are the first links in a supply chain leading through to service inspection and SHM companies, certification authorities, ship building, ship maintenance/repair companies and the ship owners and operators. This supply chain will be reflected in the consortium for our proposed innovation project. There are approximately 2,800 European sensor manufacturers, of which over 93% are SMEs. (We have identified one particular SME-AG, with over 642 members - we shall enter into discussions with such SME-AGs during our feasibility project). Every year about 400 cargo ships sink4, involving global financial losses totalling €7.9Bn (from lost revenue, ship replacements and insurance compensation). Global scheduled maintenance and repair costs amount to €10.5Bn p.a. , bringing the total to €18.4Bn. In addition the loss in freight revenue through 10.5 days p.a. spent on average out of service for is €9.6Bn p.a. On this basis we believe owners and operators will willingly pay for ShipHullSHM.
For a nominal ship of 100K DWT the existing repair and maintenance bill, based on a unit cost of €8.1/DWT/annum is C810K p.a. Average time out of service p.a. is about 10.5 days, 30% of which will be spent in a single period of several weeks dry dock every 3-5 years. The cost can be seen as rate of C81K per day spread between scaffolding, labour, crane hire, and inspection and repair equipment. The ShipHullSHM target is to reduce these costs and time by 10%, i.e. a saving of 0.1 x C810K = €81K per ship p.a. The savings in repair time are 1.5 days per ship, so freight revenue can also be increased by 1.5/365 =0.41%. Globally, freight revenue of €333Bn p.a. is carried by a total DWT of 1.3Bn tonnes7 (€25.6 per DWT). So freight revenue of a 100K DWT ship of C2.56M p.a. is increased by 0.0041 x €2.56M p.a. = €10,500 p.a. The lifetime of the ShipHullSHM system before replacement or progressive upgrading is targeted at 15 years ,so system capital cost can be counted as 290/15 = C19.3K p.a. Net savings to the shipping operator from a ShipHullSHM installation are €81K + C10.5K - C19.3K = €72K p.a. Each year 16,550 of different type of vessels (ship, oil tanker, etc.) need maintenance and inspection. If all of these used the ShipHullSHM system, a total of €1.2 bn saving could be ensured.
Beneficiaries
ETS Industrial Systems was founded in 1996 from experience in the areas of Industrial Plant Services and Contracts. The Company has developed its activities to high added value Problem Solving, building technology expertise in the semiconductor and shipping industries. ETSSI carries out systems analysis, feasibility studies, prototype development and testing, and defining acceptance criteria for 3rd party customers. Our Company is involved in Clean Room class ISOl Maintenance Services, Non Destructive Testing, Structural Monitoring Services and equipment with high added value technology. We develop instruments for physical property measurement and certification that are not currently on the market through our product development and prototyping experience. We have many years of experience in technology and product development which covers activities from conceptualisation to commercialisation. Headquartered in Italy, we also have presence in China, India, US and Middle East.
ShipHullSHM is centrally aligned with our business strategy. ETSSI carries out systems analysis; feasibility studies, prototype development and testing, and defines acceptance criteria for 3rd party customers. The new product will add another feather to our cap. Building on our long experience in safety critical NDT instrumentation development and testing for major shipping customers, ETS is convinced of the need to develop advanced, non-traditional NDT solutions for SHM and to extend our commercial activities in these areas. The overall project objectives are clearly aligned to ETSSI's business strategy of increasing profitability through innovation, thereby increasing return on investment and the competitiveness of the enterprise. The extensive and long-term experience of the company in developing NDT system development for maritime transport sector will be a key asset of the project's success.
We expect to be able to bring ShipHullSHM to the market by 2019, accessing a significant fraction of the EU IRM market, which is worth in total €10.5Bn p.a. We are initially planning to manufacture and sell €0.3M-€0.6M worth of trial systems p.a. directly ourselves, which would represent 25%-50% of our current turnover. With the reliability of the solution established licensing at a premium return of 40% will give us access to revenues exceeding €20.3M p.a. for a 0.2% penetration of the EU ship IRM market and ~70 systems p.a. Longer term there is significant opportunity to extend these sales into other NDT markets.
see also table 5 of pg.21 in the report.