When a fleet manager needed clearer visibility and better productivity across a large tugboat fleet, they turned to Spinergie. Our tailored intelligent reporting solution gives them the performance insights they need while reducing the reporting burden on their captains.
Context
The client operates in two regions, managing a diverse fleet of over 150 vessels. Just over 100 of those vessels are tugboats, either owned or chartered. The tug fleet has two primary tasks: pushing barges and assisting with harbor maneuvers.
Challenge
Spinergie's centralized Smart Fleet Management (SFM) reporting system was already in use for the client's bulk cargo operations. However, tugboat activities remained largely invisible to onshore teams. Integrating tugboats into the system—along with adapting the reporting structure to their specific operations—would significantly enhance overall fleet visibility
The previous on-board reporting process was complex. Critical information was being exchanged via Whatsapp messages before being manually consolidated into Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. This process was time-consuming and complicated for the onshore team, but also prone to data loss and inconsistencies. Furthermore, it made it impossible to generate any valuable insight or analytics.
Pain points:
- A high workload for crew and onshore teams to report, compile and cross-check fragmented data.
- No structured visibility on multi-day tug activities across ports and offshore sites.
- A need for vessel-specific reporting that could adapt to different tug operations.
- Crews use mobile phones to report, so the interface must be easy to use on a handheld device.
Spinergie’s solution: customized reporting for tug operations
We built a customized towing vessel reporting solution designed to fit the client’s unique operations. With digitized reporting, shoreside management now have access to advanced performance insights without any manual data consolidation, complicated spreadsheets or guesswork.
Spinergie’s Smart Fleet Management approach:
- Removes data silos.
- Automates previously manual work.
- Delivers critical business performance metrics.
- Guarantees data quality.
Features
Non-daily activity-based reports
Given the nature of their operations our client required reports that are structured around shipment activities (e.g. loading, discharging and transit), rather than the typical daily activity logs standard to most maritime operations. This way, the report can track the full cycle of loading or unloading at different sites and over several days if needed.
With this structure, all activities relating to one shipment are accessible under the same report. This makes them significantly easier to read and track.
Reports customised to operations
Since the client has two different types of tugboat operations, a one-size-fits-all approach would not be useful. Instead, reports are designed to support harbor maneuvering operations and barge towing operations alike.
Each type of operation has its own activity types and input fields to ensure relevance and usability.
A mobile-first user interface
The aim was to make the reporting process transition as easy as possible on the crew. We designed a mobile-first interface which replicates the reporting flow of the previously used Whatsapp messages.
Using minimal buttons and intuitive fields, data entry is a simple process even on a mobile device. Many fields are automatically updated, such as speed and distance, through synchronisation with the client’s other sources.
In-built quality control
Onshore teams were previously tasked with quality checks alongside their daily data compilation exercises. Spinergie alleviated this burden with robust in-built quality check procedures. Data cannot be entered if it exceeds set limits or with a wrong date or time stamp.
Automated data integration
Tugboat reporting is now seamlessly integrated into the client’s SFM dashboard. With this integration, stakeholders can access all operational data in one place. This includes data for bulk cargo and tugboats. They no longer need to search through multiple databases.
Customisation and collaboration
We worked together with the client to make a solution that fit their operational needs exactly. With ongoing feedback throughout the process, we created a solution that worked for them. It also adapted to the lessons they learned as they started fleet implementation.
Result
The client has the visibility they need to optimize their tugboat operations. Onshore teams can now see everything clearly. This helps them take action when needed and find ways to improve operations.
With a solution designed around their needs, the learning curve for crews to take on the new reporting process is minimal. They can keep reporting as usual but now all data is processed automatically. This lets onshore teams focus on analysis and strategy without having to deal with complicated data consolidation tasks.
As data builds and filters into the SFM solution, it will be possible to undertake cycle tracking. This is a specialized module within SFM that computes selected operational KPIs for each trip and produces assessments on their efficiency. For the client, this means they can compare the performance of one shipment to another by looking at loading rates and transit times.
Find out more about how Smart Fleet Management works for the tugboat sector in our white paper: Optimized tugboat operations–inside Spinergie’s full-suite solution.
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