Rolls-Royce, Immarsat Extend Reach of Ship Efficiency Monitoring Service

Monitoring ship efficiency via high-speed broadband (file image/pixabay)

Rolls-Royce's energy management system is to be made available to ships via Immarsat Maritime's Fleet Xpress, high-speed broadband service following a letter of intent (LOI) signed by both firms.

With that in place, vessels would be in a position to monitor engine performance in keeping with current compliance programmes.

"Vessels equipped with Rolls-Royce energy management software can operate within the Inmarsat Certified Application Provider (CAP) programme, connected via Fleet Xpress and hosted on the Inmarsat Gateway platform," a company statement said.

"[They would be able to] maximise their efficiency in a way that is constantly verifiable and compliant with European Union Monitoring Reporting and Verification and the International Maritime Organization Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan," the statement added.

CAP allows third parties to provide content via the Immarsat network.

"In the case of Rolls-Royce, the LOI envisages remote monitoring to document environmental compliance," said Stein Oro, vice president sales at Inmarsat Maritime.

"But new digital services can also be delivered to the maritime industry that create efficiencies for users and new revenue streams for vendors," Oro added.

Pricing the service is also flexible. "Application-triggered bandwidth pricing means this can be completely transparent," according to Oro.      

Fleet Xpress has attracted commitment from over 10,000 commercial ships since its launch last year, according to Immarsat.