Ship and Boat
This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in operating shipyards or boat yards (i.e., ship or boat manufacturing facilities). Shipyards are fixed facilities with drydocks and fabrication equipment capable of building a ship, defined as watercraft typically suitable or intended for other than personal or recreational use. Boats are defined as watercraft typically suitable or intended for personal use. Activities of shipyards include the construction of ships, their repair, conversion and alteration, production of prefabricated ship and barge sections, and specialized services, such as ship scaling.
Assembly Line
🚚 Drayage evolving as new business models emerge
IMC Logistics is one of the largest drayage providers in the US. On November 14th the company announced that it was entering into a strategic partnership with one of its longtime customers, the Swiss mega-logistics provider Kuehne+Nagel Group, who will acquire 51% of the company, when the deal is finalized, likely in the first quarter of 2025.
Of course, in a copycat industry where one move by a company most assuredly leads to another company making a similar move, will K+N’s purchase lead to other similarly placed logistics providers doing the same — particularly since drayage has morphed into third-party-logistics (3PLS) providers.
There are a number of both domestic and international logistics companies competing in the same space. International 3PLS like DHL, DSV (which acquired DB Shenker earlier this year), CEVA, Nippon Express, DP World Logistics, GEODIS and Hellmann Worldwide all have reasons to follow suit. And there are a number of well positioned domestic players like CH Robinson, Expeditors, Penske or Ryder that could take a run at the drayage business. The prevailing 3PL business model favors being asset-light on the transportation side and asset-heavy on the transactional portion. Beyond the 3PLs other supply chain providers have dipped their oars into the drayage business. Take for example, MEDLOG USA. MEDLOG USA is the domestic arm of MEDLOG which is part of the Geneva, Switzerland-based MSC Group (Mediterranean Shipping Company), which notably includes MSC Shipping, the world’s largest containership operator. MEDLOG operates independently and is a specialist in intermodal transportation solutions. That logistics package includes among other services door-to-door solutions, off the dock storage and intermodal transportation that incorporates drayage. MEDLOG USA illustrates just how competition in the drayage sector is evolving as more players within the supply chain work to increase their service reach.
Life Inside The World's Largest Container Ship
Navigating Terminal Efficiencies with Affordable Data Insights
When a container arrives at a terminal, data collection at each stage significantly enhances operational efficiency. Starting with berth operations, tracking vessel arrival times, berth allocation, and docking schedules optimizes berth usage and minimizes idle times. During cargo unloading and yard operations, monitoring discharging times and container movements using a digitized tally for efficient handling. Real time dispatch, job tracking, and automatic yard planning facilitate accurate placement and easy location of containers within the yard. In rail operations, coordinating train schedules with terminal activities and tracking container transfers to railcars streamlines loading and reduces delays. At the gate, recording appointment patterns, turnaround times, along with managing driver and vehicle information, ensures an efficient and secure handover of containers to trucks. Let’s delve deeper into each of these areas to understand how data collection can drive efficiency and productivity.
Furthermore, data-driven insights benefit them internally and enhance their customer service and stakeholder visibility. By harnessing historical and real-time data analytics, they can predict future trends and plan accordingly. This capability empowers them to anticipate and mitigate potential issues before they arise, ensuring smoother operations and greater satisfaction for all involved.
Greek maritime software Harbor Lab raises €14.7 million to streamline port cost management
Harbor Lab, a maritime software company modernising the outdated accounting practices hampering the $14 trillion shipping industry, has raised a €14.7 million Series A funding round led by European VC Atomico. With participation from existing investors Notion Capital, Venture Friends, SpeedInvest and The Dock, and new investors Endeavor Catalyst and maritime VC TMV, the round follows a seed round of €6.1 million and takes total funding for the Greek startup to some $22.5 million. Atomico Partner Ben Blume will join the board.
There is a longstanding bottleneck at the heart of the shipping industry: a set of outdated, mostly manual accounting methods that many shipping companies still rely on to grapple with the complex web of costs that arise from their vessel’s port calls – the second largest expense for commercial vessels behind fuel, reaching around $2.2 million per vessel per year. This leads to inefficiency, inflated operational costs, and frequent disputes and delays in payments. New environmental legislation and mounting geopolitical crises are further adding to the complications, dangers, and unpredictability in costs of transporting cargo.
Stockholm-based electric vessel maker Candela gets €25 million to speed up production
Candela, a leading maker of electric vessels, announced it has closed the largest funding round in the company’s history, to expand production of its game-changing electric ferries. A key partner in the €25 million round is the leading global boat maker Groupe Beneteau. Other backers in the round include longtime investors EQT Ventures, Ocean Zero LLC, and Kan Dela AB. The new investment brings total funding since Candela’s inception to over €70 million.
Candela’s innovative, computer-stabilized hydrofoil craft have disrupted the marine industry. As they fly above the friction of water, they use 80% less energy than other ships and boats, attaining long range and high speed on battery power – a first in the marine industry.
MarineLabs Raises Largest Seed Round in Canadian Ocean Technology History
MarineLabs, a leader in cutting edge maritime weather intelligence technology, proudly announces the successful completion of a historic $4.5 million seed funding round, marking the largest investment of its kind in Canadian history for an ocean tech company, which will directly benefit Canada’s marine industry. The funding was led by BDC Capital’s Sustainability Venture Fund with participation from Seaspan Shipyards, a leader in Canada’s ship design, engineering, building and ship repair industry.
This substantial investment will propel MarineLabs’ forward as it continues to revolutionize the maritime industry with its flagship product, CoastAware. CoastAware is a real-time weather intelligence solution that enhances safety, efficiency, and sustainability in maritime operations by providing users with detailed, actionable, real-time, and historical weather conditions data for informed decision-making.
Shipbuilders Forge Ahead
For shipbuilders, obtaining large heads and seamless rolled rings in a timely manner remains a significant challenge, however. Currently, it may take many months to receive the forged components after placing an order. This delay can have a severe impact on the production and maintenance schedules of firms that depend on replacement parts.
Fortunately, shipbuilders can rely on industry-leading forging specialists capable of producing large, custom, seamless rolled rings and contoured seamless rolled rings with the required surface finish in under two months. One example, All Metals & Forge Group, an ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D manufacturer of custom and standard open die forged parts and seamless rolled rings can cost-effectively deliver these components with the required finish within 8-10 weeks.
According to Lewis Weiss, President of All Metals & Forge Group, open die forging is ideal for providing large, custom parts. “We can produce seamless rolled rings or contoured rolled rings up to 200 inches in outside diameter and custom forgings up to 40 feet long or 80,000 lbs.,” said Weiss. “We can also produce forgings for drive and tending ends in diameters that cover the sizes needed in the shipbuilding industry.”
AI steers adaptive control systems
A new study led by Flinders University and French researchers has now used a novel bio-inspired computing artificial intelligence solution to improve the potential of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) and other adaptive control systems to operate more reliability in rough seas and other unpredictable conditions.
This innovative approach, using the Biologically-Inspired Experience Replay (BIER) method, aims to overcome data inefficiency and performance degradation by leveraging incomplete but valuable recent experiences, explains first author Dr Thomas Chaffre. The method incorporates two memory buffers, one focusing on recent state-action pairs and the other emphasising positive rewards. To test the effectiveness of the proposed method, researchers conducted simulated scenarios using a robot operating system (ROS)-based UUV simulator and gradually increasing scenarios’ complexity.
AI camera steers ships away from collisions in fog and darkness
Japanese trading company Marubeni is partnering with Israeli startup Orca AI to equip ships with artificial intelligence cameras that aid visibility in fog or darkness to reduce collisions. Orca AI’s camera system, dubbed SeaPod, has accumulated over 20 million nautical miles worth of marine visual data – equivalent to 4,200 transpacific trips between Japan and Los Angeles. The AI analyzes the big data from the footage, as well as from other parameters such as weather-related delays, to improve situational awareness of potential collisions.
Comau and Fincantieri present MR4WELD
Comau and Fincantieri, two Italian world leaders in their respective markets, present the first result of their joint collaboration at Automatica: MR4Weld (Mobile Robot for Welding) mobile robot, an innovative outdoor automation solution to improve quality, performance and well-being during labor-intensive welding activities.
The companies have also renewed their strategic agreement to apply technology, digitalization, and innovation within cutting-edge, mobile robotic solutions that will increase production speed and worker well-being, by automating traditionally manual processes.
Considered a new paradigm in bringing automation beyond the factory floor, the MR4Weld mobile robot is being tested and will be subsequently used within Fincantieri shipyards to autonomously weld steel structures, with a possible 3-fold increase compared to a manual process. It features a high-payload, 6-axis articulated robot fitted with a welding torch that is installed on a tracked undercarriage and equipped with an integrated vision system to autonomously identify welding joints. More importantly, it guarantees better welding quality while reducing ergonomic risks, helping the transformation of the shipbuilding production process by ensuring greater flexibility and improved safety in addition to lower overall costs.
🛥️ Smooth Sailing: Data’s Role in the Maritime Supply Chain
If a maritime vessel requires unplanned maintenance while transporting cargo, this causes significant delays and disruptions to the on-time arrival of goods. With such an impact on our daily access to goods and the global economy as a whole, the digitalization principles that are revolutionizing critical phases of the supply chain should also be applied to how we maintain and monitor the structural health of the vessels that transport goods across the sea.
Industrial robots can be deployed to scan and gather unprecedented data without the need for scaffolding or man-lifts which require workers to operate at hazardous heights. The collected data points are used to create actionable visualizations and digital twins to understand the vessel’s condition comprehensively. Data-driven decisions provide speed and efficiency, allowing decision makers to spend their time on more valuable initiatives. Digitalization of maintenance and inspections across the maritime supply chain will boost reliability, crew safety, and on-time delivery for fleets to optimize utilization.
Michigan Electric Boat Propels the Naval Industry with Cadence CFD Tools, Including Fine Marine
Hyundai’s self-steering ship subsidiary says it has made hundreds of sales
Lured by the promise of lower labor costs and decision assistance, some commercial shipping companies are looking to explore autonomous navigation systems. In one of the latest and most ambitious experiments with the technology, a natural gas tanker named Prism Courage ventured from Texas to South Korea in May, completing about half of its 33-day test journey on June 2 without the help of a human crew.
Benefits of 3D Printed End-Use Parts in a Yacht
3D printing allows the company to make any number of different parts to fit and match exactly with the various spaces onboard a yacht. The CAD model can be created according to the space allowed and fits the needed requirements. With the advancements in filaments and precise high-quality printers like the FUNMAT HT, Nick and Adam are able to have a high control on cost, produce parts faster than traditional manufacturing, and use materials that are better suited to the intended function than in conventional methods. The FUNMAT HT is an open material system that doesn’t come at an extra cost, thus allowing them to test many types of filaments.
Roboat III: A Robotic Boat Transportation System
Inside The World's First Electric Cargo Ship
How 3D Printing Impacts The Maritime Industry
3D printing has penetrated a range of sectors and industries to a point where it is being adopted by mainstream organizations in their manufacturing processes. However, one sector that has been left behind in this adoption is the maritime industry.
There are a stream of applications for 3D printing in the maritime industry, such as product innovation and customization, spare part manufacturing, on-demand manufacturing, and much more.
Exploring Additive Manufacturing Opportunities: Optimizing Production with Hyundai Lifeboats
This project was the epitome of Explore. Just as myself, Director of Innovation at Materialise, and others from the Mindware team, had no experience or knowledge of producing lifeboats, the Hyundai team was unaware of the capabilities and limitations of 3D printing. So, the first step in this project was bringing our two worlds together to pinpoint a relevant business challenge for Hyundai Lifeboats that we believed could best be solved via additive manufacturing.
Easier said than done. We dove into an interactive workshop session in which we discovered each side’s perspectives, expectations, and blind spots. We first discussed how AM could increase the boat’s value — with enhanced speed, performance, functionality — but we were met with hesitancy from the Hyundai team.
Mercury Marine builds innovative acoustic testing facility
When an industry leader in the marine segment decided it needed a worthy noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) test facility — one that exceeded product development goals across a broad range of products — engineers at Mercury Marine quickly learned that designing a state-of-the-art facility to satisfy rigid acoustic noise and vibration criteria and facilitate collaboration among product development and engineering staff would not be easy.