For 107 years the wreckage of Sir Ernest Shackleton vessel, the HMS Endurance, lay below the Antarctic ice presumably never to be seen again. At 2:18am on the 5th of March 2022 the bridge of South Africa’s very own Antarctic supply vessel SA Agulhas II was notified that the wreckage had been found in the freezing Weddell Sea. It was a stunning achievement by the expedition team and the remarkable crew on board the SA Agulhas II.
However, shipwrecks don’t find themselves. Behind the scenes, software, systems and equipment must run seamlessly to ensure operations continue uninterrupted.
One of the software systems installed onboard the SA Agulhas II is SMART (Ship Management and Reporting Tool). SMART was developed through a partnership between local software development house KRS and AMSOL, a leader in the marine solutions space.
SMART
AMSOL embarked on a journey of digital transformation some years ago. The goal was to streamline the vessel and crew management operations after years of using costly European-based software with unsatisfactory turnaround times. “Best of breed” international offerings were a tempting option. However, the true total cost of ownership was prohibitive due to hefty dollar-based license and support fees.
KRS worked closely with AMSOL to tackle the mammoth task of developing a bespoke management system for the day-to-day business of vessel and staff planning.
Sophisticated maritime software
The maritime industry has complex salary and leave calculations. These calculations are based on rank and how many days you are at sea. Thanks to SMART, a payroll calculation that once took many hours is reliably completed in minutes for each payroll cycle.
That was not the only pain point. Our systems need to monitor:
- Crew hours at sea
- Ensure safety ratings are checked
- Provide tools for crew assignment.
SMART has since evolved and offers full crew planning of all seafarers. AMSOL can easily manage their schedules across the entire fleet. Crew planners see which crew members qualification and certificates need renewing, and consequently ensure these are dealt with in a timely manner.
HSEQ safety and compliance allows full control to create custom policies and reports for the organisation. It also administers that these are read and accepted by all staff.
Equipment maintenance is managed via customised usage rules to ensure that enough time is allocated to the various maintenance jobs. This also feeds directly into procurement when parts are needed.
SMART is installed remotely on vessels and can run in offline mode. The synchronisation of data between vessels and the shore-based office. This is invaluable because real-time connectivity can be very challenging and expensive for vessels at sea.
Discover how SMART can work for you
SMART is available as a modular and customisable solution to both local and international clients.
Find out more at SmartMaritimeSystems.com