Netherlands-based AkzoNobel, a leading global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals, has announced the launch of its new iPad app - Intertrac Vision Lite.

The new app offers a lite version of Intertrac Vision, AkzoNobel’s big data hull performance prediction tool, said a statement from the company.   

Launched in 2015, Intertrac Vision is a pioneering digital consultancy service for ship owners developed by AkzoNobel over a four-year period. It combines data on the fouling challenges of different trading routes data with hydrodynamic analysis to predict hull performance. The software uses 3.5 billion data points, incorporating hundreds of thousands of datasets to ensure the highest degree of accuracy.

The free-to-use app provides a new avenue to engage ship owners and operators in the hull coating selection process, and enables them to explore the role of big data in supporting hull performance predictions and purchasing decisions, said the Dutch firm.
 
Last month, Nor Shipping launched a new customer experience called ‘Digital Voyage’. Powered by Big Data, AkzoNobel’s suite of digital tools to provide owners and operators with instant access to the information they need to make smarter decisions, from efficiency monitoring to purchasing optimisation.

This integrated suite of digital tools included Intertrac Perform, a tool that measures and monitors hull performance data, and validates these against the predictions made by Intertrac Vision, using metrics that comply with the ISO 19030 standard on hull and propeller performance monitoring.

Part of AkzoNobel’s Digital Voyage, the new app has been developed to showcase key features of the full Intertrac Vision tool. Users can input data covering a sample selection of vessel types, fouling routes and generic hull coating choices to create different coatings scenarios, and then compare variations in the effect on power requirements, fuel costs, and CO2 emissions, said a statement.

It also includes tips and commentary to explain the methodology that underpins Intertrac Vision, which includes the full range of parameters, and can be used to make comprehensive economic and environmental decisions, it said.

Robert Wong, marketing director at AkzoNobel Marine Coatings, said: “This new development exemplifies the principles behind our digital voyage strategy; that we want to put as much of our technology and knowledge as possible into the hands of ship owners and operators, so that they can see for themselves the value that big data can bring to their decision-making processes.”

“This version gives users a very clear idea of what they could learn in a consultation with an Intertrac Vision consultant, using the full version to explore scenarios encompassing a large number of variables, such as different vessel types, operating profiles, fouling challenges and coating options,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service