Swedish-Swiss technology company ABB and Sweden’s ship design and ship management company Wallenius Marine have founded a joint venture (JV) that would seek to offer “innovative” fleet support services aimed at more sustainable and ‘cost-effective’ operations.
According to Wallenius Marine, the joint venture—the headquarters of which are going to be in Stockholm—would revolve around speeding up the worldwide rollout of OVERSEA, a fleet support center service for the maritime industry.
The overarching goal of this bipartite initiative is to provide a solution that could help shipowners, managers and operators ‘enhance’ energy efficiency, cut down on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and streamline maintenance.
As explained, OVERSEA is a platform that combines the digital realm with hands-on help from center workers.
The system, which relies on ABB’s Ability Genix Industrial Analytics and AI IoT solutions, reportedly allows for collaboration between crews, shore-based teams and the fleet support center by offering a shared database that could improve operational efficiency and “sustain it over time.”
The formation of the JV between ABB and Wallenius Marine comes around a year after the two companies revealed that they had shaken hands with Danish tanker operator Terntank to monitor the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) performance aboard six tankers owned by Terntank. The trial was focused on the application of OVERSEA.
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In addition to this solution, Wallenius Marine has targeted the energy transition, particularly in terms of environmentally friendly maritime transport, through its other systems as well, such as the PureBallast ballast water treatment option and the Oceanbird wing sails.
The company worked on both of these systems together with compatriot marine technology player Alfa Laval.
To remind, back in June 2021, the two parties formed a 50/50 joint venture , named AlfaWall Oceanbird, with the goal of supplying wind propulsion systems for cargo vessels and other ship types. At the time, the vision was to deploy Oceanbird on board a vessel within five years.
The first full-scale wing sail of the Oceanbird project, the Oceanbird Wing 560, measuring 40 meters in height and 14 meters in width, was assembled by the end of 2023.