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Wah Kwong Ship Management (HK) Ltd has confirmed that it will be adopting DNV GL's ShipManager integrated fleet management software suite to further improve operational efficiency, data transparency and safety reporting.

Wah Kwong is a provider of maritime transport in the bulk carrier, tanker and LPG segments, operating a current fleet of 26 vessels, with nine more newbuilds on the way.

"Wah Kwong's implementation of ShipManager supports its strategy of offering the highest standards of safety and quality of operations. In the face of increasing compliance requirements and a growing fleet, a new, integrated and professional fleet management software system is essential. The implementation of ShipManager will simplify and optimize the ship management by allowing extensive fleet-wide data collection and analysis," the company said.

Efficient ship operations

"We are entering into this project with the same aspirations we have with regards to everything we do in ship management," remarked Tim Huxley, CEO Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings, explaining the decision to implement ShipManager. "We aim to continually improve efficiency and safety and strive to be 'best in class' when it comes to operating our fleet. By streamlining our processes across all ship management functions, we will relieve the documentation burden, particularly for those at sea, whilst better monitoring and improved data quality will assist in all key decisions we make."

"Our choice of DNV GL's ShipManager system was in part driven by the fact that it is technically innovative, easy to learn and user-friendly," Huxley added.

Growth in Asia

Are Føllesdal Tjønn, Managing Director of DNV GL - Software, commented: "We in DNV GL are very pleased to secure yet another ShipManager contract in Hong Kong. This reinforces the success we are experiencing with ShipManager in the market in general but particularly in in Asia. Being the leading classification society and the leading provider of ship management software puts us in a unique position to serve the market with unparalleled products and services. We look forward to a successful implementation and continuing support of ShipManager with Wah Kwong," he says.

Sanjeev Verma, Vetting Manager of Wah Kwong and project lead for the software evaluation, said they were primarily focused on finding a software system to support QHSE initiatives and processes. "It quickly became clear to us that with an integrated solution across our different ship management functions, we can achieve much greater efficiency gains.

"We were impressed by DNV GL's professional consultation in the evaluation period. In addition to its software, we feel very confident in DNV GL as a provider who can ensure successful project implementation and support us for the future."

The entire integrated ShipManager suite, comprising Technical Management, Drydocking, Procurement, Document Management, Risk Management, Safety Management Reporting, Crewing and BI / Fleet Analytics, will be implemented by Wah Kwong over the next 18 months. This decision comes after nearly 12 months of careful evaluation of more than 10 different fleet management systems.