Technology

INSIGHT & EXCLUSIVE: NUS creates ‘digital twin’ of Singapore’s next gen port

The team behind NUS’ Centre of Excellence for Modelling and Simulation of Next Generation Port speaks with Manifold Times on designing Singapore’s Tuas mega port.

Published

7 years ago

June 29, 2018

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Today (Friday) marks the signing of an agreement between the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) to establish the Centre of Excellence in Modelling and Simulation for Next Generation Port (C4NGP), a new SGD $18 million ($13.21 million) research centre located at NUS for enhancing the global competitiveness of Singapore’s maritime and port industries.

Tucked within C4NGP is research done by a team led by Associate Professor Chew Ek Peng and Associate Professor Lee Loo Hay from the NUS Department of Industrial Systems Engineering & Management to create the O2DES.NET (open-orientated discrete event simulation) platform, also simply known as the ‘digital twin’, for various maritime systems including the future 65 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) capacity Tuas mega port.

The Tuas mega port is a major milestone in Singapore’s next generation container terminal project that is scheduled to open progressively from 2021 for completion in 2040; it combines all city terminals at Tanjong Pagar, Pasir Panjang, Keppel and Brani into a mega maritime complex.

The ‘digital twin’ project is able to transport the physical realm of the Tuas mega port into the digital world; it combines the artificial intelligence and simulation aspect of port operations components (e.g. automated guided vehicles (AGVs), port cranes, container movement, maritime traffic, etc) to create a virtual sandbox environment for running simulation models.

Professor Lee believes these simulations will offer PSA International, Jurong Port and other stakeholder companies of the Tuas mega port project a glimpse to forecast the efficiency of operational events even before construction.

“Imagine a crystal ball which allows you to see events unfolding,” he says while adding “it is like a scientific tool which commercial users can consult to make an educated guess before committing huge money.”

“Singapore’s Tuas mega port is going to be the biggest in the world and nothing of this scale has ever been done before. The challenge is not only building it, but also making sure the design of the whole port itself promotes effective operations.

“The volume of 65 million TEUs is going to introduce huge traffic in the terminal that will be complicated to handle; if you do not control the operational decisions and handling sequences wisely the capacity of the port will fall far below the projected capacity.

“Singapore, being a transhipment port, also means an incoming containership will likely contain boxes which has to be further processed and transhipped over 200 destinations, and with each finger at the Tuas port being a few kilometres long all AGVs will need to operate and transport their containers like clockwork to meet transfers on time.

“The massive amount of automation by AGVs means much work has to be done to fine tune the system’s artificial intelligence; a smart algorithm also needs to be developed to control how many AGVs simultaneously operates as we will see congestion with too many and a backlog if too few units operating.

“The simulations provided by our ‘digital twin’ project of the Tuas mega port will be able to help stakeholders make decisions on the mentioned and more.”

Other uses for the ‘digital twin’ simulation platform include the analysis of navigational channel capacity studies for developing systems to simulate and optimise incoming and outgoing marine traffic; the examination of land transport-related systems such as port gateway design systems and analysis of inter-terminal traffic movement between port terminals; automated guided vehicle optimisation, scheduling and charging strategies; container yard storage management strategies; and analysis of future port systems.

“There is none other like this in the world; the rest are simply simulation models, whereas NUS’ ‘digital twin’ model integrates advanced analytics and optimisations for arriving at conclusions to help stakeholders make commercial decisions,” highlights Professor Lee.

“Ours even allow adjustment of five hierarchical levels of detail, depending on user requirement, taking into account all the way down to the equipment component level.

“It is essentially a virtual sandbox image of the physical operations.

“In the long run, what we aim is to fully integrate the physical and digital aspects of the port operations at Tuas mega port by getting real time data from the physical world for feedback to the digital world so that both systems have mutual learning capabilities.”

C4NGP is part of the Sea Transport Industry Transformation Map (ITM) developed by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) in partnership with the industry, unions and other government agencies to grow the sector’s value-add by SGD $4.5 billion and create more than 5,000 jobs by 2025.

As part of efforts to enhance productivity and innovation, Singapore is investing in new port capabilities that capitalise on emerging technologies to allow Tuas mega port to harnesses data analytics to optimise operations such as just-in-time vessel arrivals and the Maritime Single Window for quicker port clearance.

The AGVs have been introduced under a MPA-PSA Port Technology Research and Development Programme (PTRDP) to jointly step up R&D and capability developments in the areas of digitalisation, connected community systems as well as automation and robotics.

A fleet of 30 AGVs have been deployed in a trial with automated yard cranes and quay cranes in the Pasir Panjang Terminal. Deployment of such automated systems are expected to be scaled up in the Tuas mega port.

Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 29 June, 2018

Classification Society

LR: Risk sharing key component to viable emissions reduction

When major change is introduced on a ship, there are numerous aspects to consider by all stakeholders involved which all add risk.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 31, 2024

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Shipping must be open to sharing the risks associated with emissions reduction to enable the uptake of energy savings devices and technologies (ESDs/ESTs) and digital applications, stated classification society Lloyd’s Register (LR) representatives during a presentation at Athens during early December.

The responsibility of investing in and driving the uptake of new solutions must be borne by all relevant stakeholders and not sit solely with the shipowner. This extends not only to financial exposure, but also new vessel design and data sharing.

When major change is introduced on a ship, there are numerous aspects to consider by all stakeholders involved which all add risk. Energy producers, the energy consumers, the associated supply chains, and the investors, insurers, regulators, class societies and governments – all have critical, but different and highly inter-related roles to play within the transition.

“We are in a new era of shipping that comes with a different set of rules, including shipping companies’ approach risk and risk sharing,” shared Elina Papageorgiou, Global Strategic Growth Director and VP Greece and Cyprus at LR at the Powering Progress: Innovation and Energy in Maritime event.

“Longer-term investment decisions should also be informed by the decisions of shipping’s clients’, clients – the cargo owners – and align with their emissions reduction ambitions.”

David Lloyd, Director, Energy Transition at LR, meanwhile noted: “Smart vessel operation and well-informed, data-led investment decisions can significantly support vessel compliance. What’s more, investments don’t have to be extensive to achieve results.”

“Whilst uncertainties around bigger challenges such as alternative fuels and future requirements are resolved, ESDs and digital solutions can support the commercial viability of vessels as we approach 2030 with often surprisingly low levels of investment. But these investments should be shared across all stakeholders and not be limited to owners and financiers.”

Fotis Belexis, Technical Director of Starbulk Carriers, were amongst speakers discussing risk sharing across stakeholders for complex capital investments.

He pointed out that as existing vessels age, they cannot be replaced by newbuilds as there is insufficient global shipbuilding capacity to replenish the fleet with newer tonnage.

As such, older vessels may therefore remain in the market for longer than expected and not depreciate in value as has been the case in the past. Banks and other lenders must realise this and adjust their depreciation and lending models to suit when ship owners want to finance retrofits of ESDs on their older ships.

Moving forward, the room agreed energy saving devices (ESDs), such as wind-assisted ship propulsion, digital solutions and smart operations should all be considered as the in-service fleet using traditional marine fuels seeks to shave its bunker fuel consumption to comply with IMO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator, EU ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) and FuelEU regulations – the latter will which be in effect as of 1 January 2025.

As emissions reduction targets increase, with steeper increments than currently planned potentially being announced at the Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting in May next year, data-led insight and scenario planning will become more important to understand where efficiencies can be gained.

Photo credit: Lloyd’s Register
Published: 31 December 2024

Bunker Fuel

Singapore: ExxonMobil completes 100 digital bunker deliveries with Bunkerchain

“As the first accredited bunker fuel supplier to introduce MFMS in Singapore, we are proud to lead the way in implementing eBDNs,” the company said in a social media post.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 23, 2024

Admin

ExxonMobil on Friday (20 December) said it has successfully completed over 100 bunker deliveries using electronic bunker delivery notes (eBDNs) in collaboration with Singapore-based Bunkerchain, its first approved eBDN vendor.

“As the first accredited bunker fuel supplier to introduce MFMS in Singapore, we are proud to lead the way in implementing eBDNs,” the company said in a social media post.

Ognjen Plakalovic, Head of Asia Pacific Aviation and Marine Sales, ExxonMobil, said: “Our implementation of eBDNs is expected to help drive efficiency, enhance trust, and boost productivity. We continue to advocate for transparency and value the advantages of digitisation.”

Starting from April 1, 2025, marine fuel suppliers in Singapore must offer digital bunkering services, including electronic bunker delivery notes (eBDNs). The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) expects this initiative to save the industry up to 40,000 man-days annually.

According to the MPA, the move will also enable more efficient data sharing between bunker buyers and suppliers, which will help streamline administrative processes, improve accountability, and facilitate regulatory compliance.

“Integrating eBDNs with mass flow metering systems (MFMS) greatly minimizes the risk of manual errors or intentional tampering with fuel quantity figures, thereby enhancing integrity and trust in fuel transactions,” the company added.

Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 23 December, 2024

Alternative Fuels

NYK and Yusen Logistics introduce digital platform for GHG emission management

NYK and YL will use the platform by allocating to platform customers the GHG emission reductions achieved through use of alternative fuels in their ocean, air, and land transport services.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 23, 2024

Admin

NYK and Yusen Logistics introduce digital platform for GHG emission management

Japanese shipping firm Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) on Thursday (19 December) introduced a digital platform with Yusen Logistics Co., Ltd. (YL) for managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions.

The platform is provided by 123Carbon B.V. (123Carbon), a Netherlands-based startup working on decarbonising the logistics sector.

NYK and YL, a comprehensive logistics group, will use the platform to support the reduction of Scope 3 GHG emissions by allocating to platform customers the GHG-emission reductions achieved through the use of alternative fuels in their ocean, air, and land transport services and issuing certificates confirming those reductions.

Process for Managing and Allocating GHG-Emission Reductions

NYK

Generates and manages GHG-emission reductions through the use of biofuels in its bulk shipping business, recognises the environmental value of these reductions, then allocates them to YL and issues a certificate of confirmation. The first allocation will be completed on the platform after verification by a third-party certification organisation.

Procures GHG-emission reductions generated by ocean shipping companies like NYK and its airline partners and provides accompanying certificates. Additionally, for land transport, YL will utilise sustainable fuels derived from waste cooking oil and other renewable materials to power its own trucks in some countries and areas, actively creating and managing GHG-emission reductions as a transport operator. A one-stop service on the platform will be officially launched by YL shortly.

Key Features of the Platform

Customers can monitor GHG-emission reduction methods and the alternative fuels used to generate the reductions.
The management and allocation of GHG-emission reductions are secured using blockchain technology to prevent data tampering.
The entire process, from calculating GHG-emission reductions to allocating, is verified by a third-party certification organisation to ensure the platform's reliability and transparency.

Photo credit: NYK
Published: 23 December, 2024