HANSA: What is the basic idea of »benchmarking«?
Michael Aasland: The basic idea is really very simple. We[ds_preview] provide an overview of how well a ship or a fleet of ships perform with respect to five main parameters: Hull, Machinery, Safety, Pollution, and Safety Management. The ship’s (or fleet’s) performance is also benchmarked to the performance of ships of similar type and age in the DNV classed fleet. We can then assist the ship-owner, to improve his operation in selected areas for selected ships, which may be underperforming. In this way, the performance data and the benchmark will enable a Ship Owner to improve his operation, with respect to safety, environmental and financial performance.
How will this work in detail?
We follow a classical continuous improvement cycle: First DNV provides an »Initial Benchmark Report«. This report gives the ship owner an indication of how his fleet performs with respect to the five main parameters: Hull, Machinery, Safety, Pollution, and Safety Management, and compares this performance to a benchmark based on the performance of ships of similar type and age in the DNV classed fleet.
Secondly, the ship-owner can select to focus on some areas/ships, which may be underperforming, and go further into the details. The ship-owner can select to carry out this analysis on his own, or DNV can assist by providing an »In depth Analysis«. The aim or this step is to recommend improvement actions. The third step in a continuous improvement cycle is to implement the selected improvement actions. Finally, DNV will provide a new »Initial Benchmark Report«, which will show how the performance of the fleet has changed since the first benchmark measurement.
How much time is required?
For the first step, each DNV Customer Service Manager can extract the Initial Benchmark Report for his clients from the Nauticus Production System in a matter of seconds. I’d also like to mention that access to the data is strictly controlled, with access to each shipowners data restricted to the Customer Service Manager responsible for that Ship Owner. (Appreciate if this is mentioned in the article, since this is an important issue). The time required for the second step will vary in each case – depending on the number of areas and number of ships investigated.
A seagoing vessel and its operation is quite a complex operation. Do you believe that it is possible to conduct a comprehensive evaluation?
We fully acknowledge that the ship-owner/ship manager knows his ships better than anybody else, and in the second step of the continuous improvement cycle, we will work closely with the ship-owner/ship manager, to verify and correct the preliminary conclusions. What is interesting is that DNV can provide data in a systematic manner, moving »data« up the ladder towards »knowledge«.
This is possible because DNV has for a number of years been recording all survey data in a complex product model structure – which enables us to extract survey findings in an accurate and efficient manner. It also enables us to extract findings, as opposed to only conditions of class or non-conformities.
Do you reckon that it might be difficult to adequately evaluate a vessel’s performance i.e. on older ships?
Actually no, since we will have conducted more surveys on older ships, and thus have more data in our database. And of course we are benchmarking older ships to other older ships, so we are always comparing apples with apples.
Who is going to monitor the single vessel (or the whole fleet) after a possible improvement has been achieved?
DNV will provide a new »Initial Benchmark Report« for a single vessel or whole fleet, showing how the performance of the fleet has changed after the improvement actions have been implemented; this is step four in the continuous improvement cycle.
What will this cost the ship-owner?
DNV provides the »Initial Benchmark Report« free of any charge to the ship-owner/ship manager. The »Initial Benchmark Report« is an added benefit of selecting DNV class. If the ship-owner selects DNV to do the in-depth analysis, then we will have to charge for the work carried out, but the ship-owner can select to do this in house as well.
We assume that you have made some pre-evaluation among owners prior to launching the new benchmark service. How is the reception of this service offered by you within the shipping industry?
Yes, we have run a number of pilots, and the results have been very encouraging! All shipowners we have talked to really appreciate that DNV is able to assist in improving their operation. It is apparent that continuous improvement and benchmarking is back on the agenda for shipowners due to the challenging times we all are facing.
Mr. Aasland, thank you very much for answering some questions around the »benchmark« project by DNV.
GF
