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EO to support operations at sea and manage natural resources

HERMESS is a privately owned and in 2013 established company developing and providing innovative solutions on environmental issues related to the oil & gas and wind energy market, maritime transport and coastal engineering sector. Close links with research institutes, universities and being backed up by the maritime industry ensures that the latest techniques and services are available for our clients.

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Our current solutions include:

  • Coastal and offshore site-specific design criteria studies.
  • Planning & design of Operations.
  • Integrated Services for Port Operations.
  • Environmental Assessment Studies.

Hereto we use:

  • Numerical modelling of weather, currents and sea surface waves using satellite obsevations.
  • Remote sensing (mapping) services.
  • Coastal mapping and monitoring.
  • Contract research and software development services.
  • State of the art IT technologies.

Our staff includes highly qualified physicists, mathematicians, information technology engineers and coastal engineers, all having 20 years of experience in the coastal and oceanographic sector.

Projects HERMESS is currently involved in include:

Open Data exploitation services. HERMESS focus is on developing and providing services to improve ocean current forecasts for operations at sea, enabling a dynamic optimization of shipping routes to improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption (http://www.melodiesproject.eu/node/38)

Commercial satellite mission feasibility studies. HERMESS leads the commercial and technical feasibility of developing a commercial build small space system to provide value-added services related to bathymetry and ice. The technological, operational, commercial and user aspects of a dedicated nano satelliet based system are investigated.

Estimated ship arrival time service

Generally, arrival time assessments are based on the distance to port and the mean speed of the ship. Our service takes into account the wind, wave, and current conditions during the trip and the effects that they have on the speed.

User/Customer
Rotterdam harbour information broker

Background
Upon arrival of a ship in the harbor a quay needs to be free for offloading of for example containers or bulk products. For this purpose a time slot has been requested and hinterland transport arranged by for example barges or trains and trucks. A ship failing to arrive in time results in infra-structure not being used or last minute reallocation of resources.

Issue and needs
To optimize marine transport the current ship position has to be monitored and time to harbour estimated. The latter is influenced by MetOcean conditions along the planned shipping route and requires accurate weather forecasts and ship response parameters.

Proposed solution
To predict ship arrival time the effect of wind, waves and currents on its velocity is determined. Assessment of ship response parameters is based on actual shipping data and MetOcean conditions and does not require a dedicated complex physical model of the ship’s hydrodynamic behaviour. The technology combines near real-time ship data, MetOcean forecasts and the ship response parameters to predict sailing times. Ship position and speed are monitored using AIS technology. Historic AIS data and MetOcean data are analysed to assess ship speed related to ambient waves, wind and currents.

Industry perspective
The technology will increase efficiency in the maritime transport sector and ports. The service enables optimized use of harbour infrastructure and increase throughput capacity including use of hinterland connections.
The service is provided to support the maritime transport sector, ship owners and seaport authorities.