ABS NS ChemSTOW Wins 2002 Seatrade Award For
New IT Applications For The Shipping Industry

April 25, 2002

The ABS Nautical Systems SafeNet ChemSTOW module has received the prestigious Seatrade Award in the category "New IT Applications For The Shipping Industry."

ChemSTOW is an ideal IT solution to stowage planning for a long list of bulk liquids carried by sea and numerous evolving rules governing their transportation. The carriage of chemicals is a complex equation where the main variables are: safety, quality, compatibility, stability, revenue optimization, and cargo/port planning. The program can be described in a mathematical sense: It is the correct combination of these variables, as well as the ability to quickly solve this equation multiple times, that allows the operator to be successful in the chemical trade.

As with anything in the marine industry, safety is paramount. ChemSTOW addresses safety by incorporating many internationally accepted chemical databases, such as the USCG CHRIS code and coating databases, among others, and then assesses cargoes against these databases and the exact ship’s arrangement and piping configuration. It is this incorporation of these data sources and the evaluation of previous cargoes that provides the quality of stowage that a shipper desires.

One of the most notable algorithms in ChemSTOW is the compatibility logic. The compatibility check includes seventeen different checks to ensure that it is proper to stow a cargo as well as to determine what effects it may have on other cargoes that are planned at later ports. Noteworthy checks within the compatibility logic include: adjacent cargoes (both those already on board and those planned), coating suitability, heating of adjacent cargoes, as well as tank history, just to name a few.

Historically, stowage planning and stability have been done separately, but with ChemSTOW, these two functions are integrated into one package. As cargoes are recorded in the system as having been stowed, or additional cargoes are planned, the final stability calculations are made for both the intact and damaged condition, thus further validating the quality of the stowage and reducing the workload on the operator.

Complex port rotation algorithms are incorporated to assess the effect of various plans across different rotations, thus allowing the user to quickly ascertain the most profitable routing, using the BP Distance tables, and taking into account safety, quality, compatibility, and stability all in one complete integrated package.

As with any complete marine software package, ChemSTOW incorporates a replication module to ensure that office and the vessel are working with the same data, which reduces the time it takes to quickly and to effectively evaluate cargoes for carriage.

"ChemSTOW has been a monumental effort," says Jack Kitchura, President and Chief Operating Officer, ABS Nautical Systems. "Many months have gone into the evolution, development and constant improvement of the product. It’s been a global effort by many people. We’ve also had the invaluable support of many experts in the chemical shipping industry."

ABS NS SafeNet is one of the leading fleet management software packages available to the marine and offshore industries. In addition to the ChemSTOW module, the software offers a fully integrated, modular approach to managing all the principal operational, technical, commercial and regulatory functions associated with the management of a vessel or offshore rig, ranging from maintenance and repair, purchasing and inventory, crew management and payroll to ISM and chartering. SafeNet is currently installed aboard several thousand vessels ranging from tugboats to VLCCs.