PSA Marine embarks on carbon footprint reduction with digital solution

Seatrade 28 Aug 2020 Share
Singapore’s PSA Marine has joined the global movement towards sustainable shipping by reducing carbon footprint with the use of the digital solution, Vessel Pilot Communication (VPC).

With VPC, PSA Marine is ensuring that critical and timely updates on pilot boarding times and traffic conditions in and around the pilot boarding grounds are communicated to vessel masters. Timely updates allow the vessel masters to adjust their vessels’ speed and time their arrival to Singapore, thereby achieving fuel optimisation and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

As a pilotage services provider in Singapore, PSA Marine supports the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore’s (MPA) call for decarbonisation efforts and is excited to partner like-minded maritime stakeholders in contributing towards a sustainable environment.

“During the pilot trial, the participating shipping lines have provided valuable feedback on the VPC digital solution. With its launch, all vessels calling at the port of Singapore can benefit from information that can help them play their part in environmental sustainability,” said Jimmy Koh, head of digital transformation and chief pilot of PSA Marine.

Dannis Lee, managing director of Yang Ming (Singapore), commented: “With VPC, there is significant improvement in the way we monitor our fleet. Our ship masters will be notified of any changes to the pilot boarding time by the VPC. In addition, with information of the traffic conditions available on the VPC, they can adjust the vessels’ speed to derive a more accurate estimated time of arrival at the Port of Singapore. Hence, this enables our vessels to achieve a more efficient fuel consumption and allows us to contribute towards decarbonisation.”

Takashi Kase, senior vice president of global vessel operations of Ocean Network Express (ONE), weighed in to say that the alliance expects the new procedure of ship-shore communication to contribute more optimised traffic and pilotage at one of the world’s busiest channels, and further improve operational efficiency.

Nicolas Romero, vice president group operations of CMA CGM, said that “while CMA CGM does not experience much waiting time in the efficient Singapore port with various initiatives already in place, the VPC digital solution will reinforce the safety and efficiency of the workflow between pilots, CMA CGM vessels and local CMA CGM operations.”

The VPC is a module of PSA Marine’s ONEHANDSHAKE digital platform which is designed to share information on port activities with a network of maritime stakeholders.


Seatrade 28 Aug 2020