FOCs provide real-time monitoring and support services for corporation’s 102-ship global fleet
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Carnival Corporation has opened a Fleet Operations Center (FOC) in Seattle, US to support operations at its first facility in Hamburg, Germany.
Both FOCs provide real-time monitoring and support services for Carnival Corporation’s 102-ship global fleet. A third centre is currently under construction at the corporations’ headquarters in Miami, US and will be added to the global network later this year.
All three FOCs will use a tracking and data analysis platform built on Microsoft’s cloud technologies, which has been dubbed Neptune. The system has been in use at Carnival Maritime’s FOC in Hamburg, Germany since October 2015 and piloted with Carnival Corporation’s European cruise brands in Hamburg and Southampton, England. The company will continue rolling out the system at its FOCs in Seattle and Miami this year, further increasing the monitoring capability of its ships sailing in the US and Caribbean.
Neptune enables real-time information sharing between Carnival Corporation ships and specialised onshore teams by capturing thousands of data points and providing real-time analytics for 28 distinct parameters for navigational safety from each ship. The system will help Carnival Corporation to optimise ship safety, efficiency, environmental sustainability and overall fleet performance. In future, Neptune will enable Carnival Corporation and its brands to do predictive analysis.
“Our teams have done a remarkable job in developing the most sophisticated and capable system in the cruise and commercial maritime industry for taking safety management to a completely new level, overcoming the hurdles faced with ships sailing in the middle of oceans around the world,” said Vice Admiral Bill Burke (retired), chief maritime officer at Carnival Corporation. “With our new operations centres running our proprietary technology, both our ship and shoreside teams have greater-than-ever ability to ensure we are operating at safety levels that far exceed industry standards. We can now also access and analyse data that can significantly increase the operational efficiency of our ships, which is another major benefit.”
The implementation of the Neptune system is aligned with the company’s Arison Maritime Center, home of its Center for Simulator Maritime Training Academy (CSMART) Academy in Almere, Netherlands. The facility currently provides extensive training to 6,500 deck and technical officers from the company’s 10 global brands every year.
“Our commitment to raising the bar on maritime safety has already generated several major enhancements, including our world-class CSMART Academy training facility where our deck and technical officers receive the industry’s most progressive training using state-of-the-art simulators,” said Burke. “Now we are taking it to the next level with our new Neptune support system and cutting-edge FOCs that enable us to support safety using real-time data in ways that have never been done in the cruising and commercial maritime industries. Together, our safety training programmes and innovative technological capabilities like Neptune add even more strength to our comprehensive approach to safety and operational excellence as the number one priority for Carnival Corporation.”