SAFETY AND ECONOMY

WEATHER ROUTING: In recent years, DMI – Maritime Service has grown into Europe’s largest and the world’s most reliable provider of meteorological weather routings and performance analyses for international shipping. There is a lot of money to save.

With costs of between USD 25,000 and 50,000 every day to keep a ship sailing, it is essential for the shipping company and the carrier not only to get the cargo safely to its destination, but also to do it as quickly as possible.

“These requirements – safety and speed – do not always go hand in hand,” says Carsten Schrøter, who heads DMI – Maritime Service, which in recent years has grown into Europe’s largest and the world’s most reliable provider of meteorological weather routings and performance analyses for shipping. DMI – Maritime Service is a commercial wing of the Danish Meteorological Institute.

Carsten Schrøter, head of The Maritime Service

Dangerous waves
“A look at a globe shows you the shortest route between two ports. But the shortest route is not always the quickest, nor the safest. If the shortest route leads the ship directly into an area with a high swell, it affects the speed, and can also damage the ship and cargo. Our service is to plan the routes of the ships which take them around the worst dangers, while also making the route the most cost-efficient.” The routes which are chosen and presented to the ship’s captain after they have been ordered, not later than six hours before departure, are based on comprehensive analyses of all available meteorological data, as well as data regarding ocean currents, occurrence of ice and DMI’s own forecasting models for the height of the swell.

“Ships won’t be damaged by sailing into an isobar,” says Schrøter. “They are built for that. It is the swell and especially the large ’freak waves’ which can suddenly more than double in size, that can be dangerous. In this field, we are using probably the world’s best analytical models which can forecast areas with a high swell and thus freak waves.”

Reliable data
DMI – Maritime Service is a rapidly growing weather routing organisation. This is because the organisation’s risk assessments, which form the basis of route planning, are consistently the best on the market. Another key reason is DMI – Maritime Service’s general service level, with its rapid and reliable supply of data.

“The shipping industry’s interest in both professional weather routing and more financially based performance analysis is increasing sharply,” says Carsten Schrøter. “Last year we prepared about 4,000 ’journeys’, which is a significant rise in comparison to the year before. We service about 300 ships around the globe every day, especially in the North Atlantic, the Pacific, around south east Asia and the Indian Ocean.”

International
Another reason why such a relatively small country as Denmark has such a big and recognised weather service is because of the “local” working area of the organisation.

“It stretches all the way from Canada to the Middle East. We have responsibility for the weather service and particularly the ice situation around Greenland. In addition we monitor the Atlantic around the Faeroe Islands and provide Danish forces in the UN and NATO with weather forecasts. In reality, it means that we work more internationally than locally. One proof of this is that we have just won a contract with a new customer to provide ice warnings in the northern Caspian Sea.”

http://www.weatherrouting.dk

Documenting claims The shipping industry’s use of DMIMaritime Service’s performance analyses, which are increasingly used for documentation in arbitration cases when claims occur in connection with cargo contracts, has expanded at a rapid rate. “These days cargo rates are so high that even delays of 4-6 hours provide grounds for claims,” says Carsten Schrøter. “For that reason it is becoming increasingly common to simply make it part of the contract for the chartered party to take our performance analysis into account in the final calculation.” “Previously it was all too easy for the captain, when a ship arrived later than expected, to claim that the ship had sailed into rough weather or had to change course to avoid a hurricane. By being subject to a performance analysis, we document minute by minute and hour by hour how the weather actually behaved during the ship’s voyage. So we can see whether the ship fulfilled the performance that was promised when the contract was entered.”

Facts about DMI – Maritime Service DMI – Maritime Service employs 30 people. The majority are meteorologists, but there are also several navigators and naval architects. The staff are often stationed on offshore installations or on ships. The service collaborates with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) under the UN, the European Centre for Medium- Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading, UK as well as EUMETSAT.     The clients of DMI – Maritime Service include major maritime companies from all over the world. In addition to weather routing and preparation of performance analyses, the service offers offshore forecasts, daily internet-based weather forecasts and customized solutions. A new system, Seaplanner, which will enable ships to prepare their own routing on-line, is a full prototype and currently being tested at sea. It is a modern and efficient supplement to the traditional service, and is expected to be offered during summer 2006.

When the weather kills Weather routing came into the media spotlight along with the category 5 Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans six months ago. DMI – Maritime Service had many ships in the area which received advice. The ships were given routes which took them around the hurricane itself. “Because of the destruction Katrina caused on land, the hurricane got a lot of media coverage, and rightly so. But the hurricane was only one of many. The vast majority of them rampage across the oceans and are never mentioned, but are just as great a danger to shipping. In 1997-2001 alone, almost 400 merchant ships sank on the great oceans, and subsequent weather analyses show that around 37% of all sinkings are probably related to bad weather.” “But it is not our task at any time to plan fair weather for the ships – if it is not necessary. There are often financial benefits in setting routes close to low pressure areas to exploit a shorter distance. But these routes are also more risky which necessitate advice and monitoring from our weather routing. We also seek to exploit prevailing sea currents, and regarding tankers which use a lot of energy for cooling gas, we try to set their route through cold sea currents so they save energy. It is all about safety and economy.”