Orange Business Services, the business-to-business branch of French telecom group Orange, is providing Russian fishing fleet operator Dobroflot with an internet of things (IoT) solution for fuel monitoring.
The IoT-based solution will help the Russian firm to optimize fuel consumption, analyzing weather and vessel position to save up to 10% of fuel costs, and also helps to prevent unauthorized fuel usage, the French firm said.
The IoT solution will be powered through a satellite solution from Orange Business Services that connects Dobroflot’s vessels and onshore operations.
Dobroflot will initially pilot the IoT solution on a single vessel before rolling it out across eight vessels in their fleet, including Vsevolod Sibirtsev — which Dobroflot claims is the world’s largest floating fish factory.
The pilot implementation will be onboard a refrigerated transport vessel, which is used to navigate the Northeast passage through the Arctic.
This pilot will enable Dobroflot to monitor fuel consumption online while at sea, as well as during bunkering and refueling. The solution will also help the crew to reduce commercial losses by continuously monitoring the vessel’s main engine, its auxiliary diesel generators and boilers, Orange Business Services said.
To develop the customized IoT solution, Orange Business Services teamed up with Russian firm Technodar. Technodar specializes in fuel consumption monitoring systems and satellite transport monitoring.
The system features sensors which feed measurements directly to the IoT solution, which sends data back to shore via an onboard VSAT terminal. The solution requires no initial investment from Dobroflot, who will pay only a monthly subscription for the service, Orange Business Services said.
“The savings from Orange Business Services’ IoT solution will have a significant impact on our bottom line, as around half of a vessel’s operating costs are related to fuel. An active IoT system on board our vessels will enable us to collect data in real time and map the most efficient routes,” said Evgeny Stepanov, CTO of Dobroflot.
“We started discussing innovative IoT solutions with Dobroflot after we successfully deployed VSAT satellite terminals across its fleet. We jointly came to the conclusion that Orange Business Services IoT solutions could provide Dobroflot with a suite of tools and applications that could reduce their operating costs, detect inefficiencies and predict when maintenance is needed – whether the vessel is at sea or onshore,” said Richard Van Wageningen, senior vice president, Indirect, Middle East, Africa and Russia, Orange Business Services.
