Italian ferry firm first to receive first Digital Ship Notation

 Following a digital ship project initiated by the ferry operator in cooperation with RINA in 2012, eleven ships equipped with navigation and machinery data collection systems and shore connectivity will qualify for the new notation.
Information sent from ship to shore will be stored in the classification society’s RINACube platform. This cloud-based platform, launched last December, collects and integrates data and digital assets from various sources. It is simple to implement inside a company’s existing digital ecosystem and is interacts seamlessly with most common technologies on board, the classification society said in a statement.
For the ferry company, which operates vessels between mainland Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, France, Albania, Morocco and Tunisia and is part of the MSC group, the new notation means that it will have objective evidence of efforts to monitor ships continuously and provide insights into cost-saving opportunities made possible by the optimisation of processes allowed by data analysis.
Paolo Moretti, executive vice president Marine Strategic Development at RINA, said: “Digitalisation is set to change the marine industry, driving new levels of operational understanding while optimising systems. As a class society, we recognise that the digital journey has only just begun but it is our firm intention to lead the shipping industry in the development and application of this technology to drive down costs and increase operational efficiency.”