OPTILIFT - offshore lifting and logistics

Project Information

OptiLift

Grant agreement ID: 767636

DOI

10.3030/767636

Project closed

EC signature date 21 May 2017

Start date 1 May 2017

End date 30 April 2019

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 2 199 312,50

EU contribution

€ 1 539 518,00

Coordinated by

VOCA AS
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - OptiLift (OPTILIFT - offshore lifting and logistics)

Reporting period: 2018-05-01 to 2019-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The overall vision of the Optilift project is to upscale, pilot and commercialize our unique toolset for improved safety, in-creased efficiency and more environmental friendly offshore lifting and logistics - enabling annual cost savings of up to €14.2m per offshore rig operator and reduced CO2 emissions by up to 50% compared to current platform supply vessels. Optilift will contribute to solving the industrial and societal problem of safer and more efficient offshore lifting and logistics and provide a significant contribution to the instalment of Blue Energy as outlined in the Blue Growth Strategy of 2012.

EU INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIETAL PROBLEMS:
The sea and the coasts are key drivers of the EU economy and EU’s blue economy represents 5.4m jobs and a gross added value of just below €500bn annually. In total, 75% of EU’s external trade and 37% of trade within the EU is seaborne. Contradictory, the maritime transport industry account for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions – equivalent to more than the total annual emissions of Germany – and this share is expected to rise to 5% by 2050. The offshore lifting and logistics sector is significantly challenged due to rough weather conditions and characterised as inefficient due to out-dated logistics handling systems compared to their onshore logistics counter parts – causing a high frequency of cancelled and/or delayed lifting operations that is triggering unnecessary high costs and large CO2 emissions from such operations. Finally, the industry is in eminent need of new and improved technologies that can mitigate risks of worker injuries and damages to equipment. In 2014, a total of 240 injuries causing work hour losses were reported for permanently placed offshore facilities alone on the Norwegian Continental Shelf - 80% of these were related to lifting operations.

OUR SOLUTION:
The envisaged Optilift framework uses advanced sensor data processing technology to address the challenges elaborated above. It is built around a hardware sensor unit and dedicated software modules to process the acquired data. The sensor units are installed at crane boom tips without requiring additional instrumentation of the surroundings. The Optilift tools process the data collected by the sensor unit using signal processing and computer vision algorithms, improving the efficiencies of a variety of tasks in offshore lifting and logistics. The system is easily installed and maintained, enabling a highly cost-effective solution with a large suite of functionalities – as a single hardware setup, Optilift is highly scalable on an international level.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project will be realized through six work packages:
• WP 1: Technology maturation: to implement the tasks that will enable us to achieve our technical maturation objectives which form part of our commercialization plan. Specifically, we will implement the remaining functionality and technology into the product series to ensure a successful piloting and commercialization. The work to be performed is planned based on the results from our Feasibility Study, tests and FMECAs for the technology so far.

• WP 2: Large scale piloting and validation: to demonstrate the functionality and assess the performance and benefits of the Optilift solution for actual lifting and logistics offshore operations under actual working conditions. Several hardware sensor units will be produced and tested with Logistics and People Detection tools in an offshore environment at Aker BP offshore installations. Assessment after the pilot activities will be carried out, and improvements will be implemented as part of the piloting activities.

• WP 3: Supply chain development: to ensure that the entire Optilift supply chain is prepared and optimised to handle the increased sales and volumes expected when introducing the products to the market.

• WP 4: Commercialisation: to define our strategic goals for Optilift and outline actions to be implemented for post project exploitation of the project results. The analysis of the current and future markets for Optilift, which is performed in our Feasibility Study, will be re-vised and further expanded. Cost estimations will be finalized to confirm the project’s commercial viability. The results from these activities will be used to develop and refine the Optilift business case.

• WP 5: Communication, dissemination and exploitation of results: to ensure the successful dissemination of the project results and the benefits of the developed technology and knowledge to the relevant industrial sectors, general public and key stakeholders.

• WP 6: Innovation management: to ensure a smooth running of the project, in specific to implement the innovation management process, ensure financial management, implement IP monitoring and protection, achieving and delivering our final and Business Innovation Plan (BIP) and associated Commercialization Plan (CP) ready for post-project execution, and finally to ensure technical progress and risk management.

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)

Optilift is a scalable, cost efficient tool that will disrupt the conventional offshore loading and logistics practices and the Optilift framework is significantly innovative both in application and technological aspects:
• Application novelty: There is no unified solution / framework today which extends the operational weather window, enhances safety for offshore personnel / cargo, and improves the logistic planning. The Optilift framework addresses all these tasks by significantly lowering the operational costs and reducing CO2 emission levels.
• Hardware novelty: The framework introduces a patented sensor system that is installed at a crane boom tip. Patent grant in UK (GB2504903B), US (US9909864B2), Russia (RU2623295C2), Norway (20131675), AU (2012259523) and patent pending CA and BR. The sensor unit contains camera(s), laser range finder, and two motors to direct laser range finder to custom positions.
• Software novelty: The data collected from the sensor unit is processed via automated and novel computer-vision algorithms that are developed in-house. The computer-vision library, developed by the Optilift team, can perform cargo / vessel / platform / human detection and tracking tasks in real-time and in a fully autonomous manner.

The Optilift project will bring our technology to industrial readiness representing a significant step beyond the current state-of-the-art. Extending the weather window, improving planning, making informed decisions, and reducing human errors will lead to (1) lower mobilisation & rental equipment costs, and (2) improved utilisation of offshore deck areas, platform supply vessels and personnel. In detail, the Optilift framework aims to revolutionise the offshore lifting and logistics operations by the following economic benefits:
• Reducing costs up to €7.5m per year per offshore rig related to delayed and cancelled lifting operations by increasing the window of operations for lifting
• Reducing costs up to €5m per year per offshore rig related to floating warehouses, through better utilisation of deck capacity on vessels and installations
• Reducing costs up to €1.7m per year per offshore platform related to logistics planning and handling
• Reducing the EU maritime transport CO2 emissions with average 40,162 tonnes annually
• Avoiding costly accidents related to improper handling of dangerous goods
• Improving the safety for personnel and minimizing damage or loss of equipment

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