Press Release

Following joint development and testing with ClassNK, NAPA and MOL have rolled out cloud-based solution on over 700 of MOL’s ships to intelligently monitor and mitigate navigational risks

Helsinki, Finland and Tokyo, Japan January 26, 2022: NAPA, the leading maritime software, services, and data analysis provider, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), one of the largest shipping companies in the world, and class society ClassNK have jointly developed a navigational risk monitoring system*, which has been adopted in MOL’s fleet of over 700 ships.

Building on the combined expertise of all three partners in fields of ship operations, safe routing, and risk analysis, the solution aims to increase safety across MOL’s fleet by predicting the risk of grounding in advance and alerting the shoreside teams, giving them greater situational awareness of navigation risks.

The solution is based on NAPA’s cloud-based monitoring platform, NAPA Fleet Intelligence, which does not require any onboard hardware installation or crew input. By combining several data sources, such as position data, ship data, sea depth, and navigational charts, with NAPA’s data on typical operational patterns, the solution provides users with a robust, reliable, easy-to-use fleet-wide platform to reduce mainly grounding risk. The system also incorporates carefully calculated alerts and notifications to shore-based safety operations teams whenever the increased navigational risk is detected, in turn, enhancing the ability to avoid and mitigate incidents.

Commenting on the solution, Pekka Pakkanen, EVP Shipping Solutions at NAPA, said: “We’re proud to see the evolution of this project and the culmination of our efforts into a solution that has the potential to increase safety standards across the industry. The deployment of the solution to a global fleet of over 700 vessels truly shows how far cloud-based solutions have come in recent years. It also shows the benefit they can bring to solving critical operational issues, with the ability to roll out throughout a large fleet without any additional hardware installation,”

“This collaboration also demonstrates how shipping’s digital innovators can collaborate to address critical safety challenges quickly and effectively – in this instance, by combining MOL’s strong safety culture with the possibilities of state-of-the-art data analysis capabilities at NAPA, and ClassNK’s expertise on safety” Naoki Mizutani, Managing Director, NAPA Japan, concludes.

Satoshi Fujii, General Manager of Smart Shipping Division at MOL commented: “With this project, our Smart Shipping Division has demonstrated its ability to drive collaboration with other tech leaders in the industry and to improve safety and performance at scale. We believe that the sure management of navigational risks is the absolute necessity for maritime industries, and this system does that, both analyzing grounding risks and alerting on it. We believe that it will help to prevent accidental grounding during ocean voyages.”

Dr. Toshiro Arima, Corporate Officer and General Manager of Digital Transformation Center at ClassNK added: “We are very pleased to be part of the project and contribute to the technology that will lead to robust and sustainable seaborne trade. This is a perfect example of a collaborative approach, and ClassNK will continue working with the frontrunners of the industry to solve shipping’s various challenges.”

* Please refer to the March 25, 2021, press release:
NAPA, MOL, and ClassNK agree to joint further development for a comprehensive navigational risk monitoring system

-ENDS –

About NAPA
In its over 30 years of operation, NAPA has become a global leader in developing and scaling software, services and data analysis for a safer, smarter, and more sustainable
maritime industry.

NAPA operates globally, with 190 employees in eleven countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas, and has a turnover of more than €25.6m. To date, NAPA has 420 user organizations for its design solutions nearly 3,000 installations onboard vessels and a growing number of subscribers for its cloud-based fleet services. 

For more information, visit www.napa.fi

About Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.
MOL, as a multimodal transport group, meets the needs of the era in a wide variety of fields. MOL’s activities are truly borderless, based on the operation of one of the world’s largest merchant fleets, backed by expertise and technology developed throughout over 130-year history. The MOL Group is promoting technological development using ICT to support safe operation, achieve provision of ‘stress-free services’ to customers and the deeper reductions in environmental impact.

For more information, visit https://www.mol.co.jp/en/index.html

About ClassNK
Founded in 1899, ClassNK is a ship classification society dedicated to safer and cleaner seas. ClassNK provides diverse technical services including surveys and classifications of ships and marine structures based on its own rules, statutory certifications on behalf of more than 110 flag states, management system certifications in line with ISO and other international standards. ClassNK joins the project to explore the appropriate ways to assess ship safety in the digital era based on the concept of ClassNK Digital Grand Design 2030.

For more information, visit www.classnk.com