Enabling Safe Navigation as Climate Change Intensifies
Discover how Weathernews is helping the shipping industry move towards a more sustainable future by combining deep weather data with advanced predictive modelling.
Global temperatures are on the rise, increasing the potential for dangerous and costly disruptions to the shipping industry and many of the world's ports and harbors. A study published by the Environmental Defense Fund (Act Now or Pay Later: The Costs of Climate Inaction for Ports and Shipping, March 2022) predicts that these disruptions are likely to further threaten the sea routes that deliver 80% of the world's traded goods. Among the major risks are rising sea levels and stronger tropical storms.
While extensive research on the impacts of climate change on shipping is limited, recent incidents paint a troubling picture, according to the EDF study. Between 2015 and 2019, at least 80 of the 400 vessels lost worldwide were due to weather events. One hundred and forty crew members lost their lives during that period, including 33 in 2015 when a Category Four hurricane sank a cargo ship in the Bahamas. Thousands of containers have also been lost at sea in heavy weather, exacerbating marine pollution.
It is expected that wind speed, rainfall, and wave height will all increase as greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere rise, making the need for accurate forecasting of weather hazards urgent. As the authors of the article "Extreme weather impacts of climate change: an attribution perspective" (Ben Clarke et al., 2022 Environ. Res.: Climate 1 012001) write, “recording the impacts of extreme weather [must be conducted] far more systematically around the world. A lack of data on past impacts of extreme events is a major barrier to mitigating future damages, simply because there is no direct evidence upon which to base the necessary measures.” This emphasizes the importance of weather data collection to mitigate the risk weather hazards pose.
Unmatched Risk-Reduction Heritage
With pioneering solutions to help mitigate weather risks, Chiba-headquartered Weathernews has been addressing climate change since 1986, following our founder Hiro Ishibashi’s personal commitment to "help out in times of need" and protect the lives of mariners. In alignment with that philosophy and with our expertise in climate-change solutions for sectors ranging from maritime to aviation and land-based industries, we consider it our mission to help achieve a sustainable society that embraces human well-being, responsible corporate activities, and the preservation of the global environment on sea and land. “We can only achieve a sustainable shipping industry by minimizing risks of weather hazards and reducing environmental impact through the collection and analysis of reliable weather information,” says Keemoon Kwon, Global Leader / Voyage Planning Group at Weathernews.
To realize this, Weathernews is continuously expanding our world-leading infrastructure network for weather data collection. This includes observational data from sources such as satellites, radars, and around 4,000 sensor buoys. All this observational data (which is available free of charge for researchers and students) is submitted to our industry-leading database for digital analysis and supplemented by historical and real-time data from all the customer ships in our portfolio. “The more developed the infrastructure network, the higher resolution can be provided by the AI-based modelling. The primary purpose is to make weather forecasting as granular as possible,” adds Kwon.
Ensuring the Optimal Passage
From data gathering, data cleansing, and big data analysis, Weathernews uses its proprietary weather data to continuously develop better services that add value for clients and accelerate digital transformation. To enhance climate-change mitigation in the marine space, our unique Optimum Ship Routeing (OSR) service combines weather forecasting with vessel performance parameters to promote safe navigation with minimum fuel consumption. It suggests the best routes and optimal engine speed to take advantage of prevailing conditions, supporting operational management of ships 24/7. OSR not only helps vessels avoid the risk of stormy weather but also helps minimize fuel costs and ensure timely arrival at the destination. The service contributes to the reduction of around 2.8 million tons of CO2 every year and has been adopted by operators in response to the need for safety, punctuality, financial performance, and a lower climate footprint. Around 12,000 vessels, or over 50% of all oceangoing vessels globally, subscribe to the service.
We also collaborate with Danish maritime digital company Vessel Performance Solutions (VPS), adding to the value we provide to ship owners and managers through the analysis of operational data to improve decision-making, reduce fuel costs, and lower CO2 emissions across entire fleets.
Protection from Running Aground
On another safety front, Weathernews developed its Navigation Assessment & Routing (NAR) service to support countermeasures against grounding incidents, one of the most serious types of marine accidents, often resulting from human error or fatigue. As the world’s first grounding risk support service, it automatically detects and sends notifications to shoreside operators/managers on grounding risks when a ship is planning to or actually navigates towards high-risk areas like shallow waters or areas with fishing fleets, or when it drifts from a planned route. Previous practice was to leave the decisions on how to sail in shallow-water areas up to those onboard. Further notifications will be added for passage risks such as anchor dragging due to strong winds caused by the approach of tropical cyclones, and hull rocking during stormy weather.
NAR is the first stage in Weathernews’ suite of upcoming Environmental Operation Support Services, as grounding risk is also linked to protecting the marine environment. It combines OSR data including the ship's passage plan, high-precision weather and oceanographic data, live AIS data, navigational charts, navigational hazards and warnings, and Weathernews’ grounding risk area database to predict the possibility of grounding in advance.
Weathernews will continue to develop new services addressing emissions reduction strategies to help shipping companies simultaneously achieve safety and environmental performance for their ships, seafarers, and cargo by adopting innovative digital tools. “Weathernews provides solutions that leverage the weather to help customers maximize profits and reduce their environmental impact through core technologies of weather forecasting and big data analysis. That way, we contribute to preserving the marine environment and promoting a sustainable future for the global shipping industry,” said Keemoon Kwon, Global Leader / Voyage Planning Group at Weathernews.
