The European Union (EU) has ambitious goals related to the use and protection of its natural resources and recently consolidated, under the European Green Deal, the growth strategy aiming to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society with a modern, resource- and competitive economy. The Green Deal recognises that the EU should also promote and invest in digital transformation, as such tools are a necessary precondition for enabling decarbonization changes and adaptation to climate change. Furthermore, due to the Covid pandemic, there were several lockdowns not only in European countries but all over the world. This also had a major impact on the maritime / fishing sector. Regular operations were made considerably more difficult due to the travelling restrictions. Usual service trips on board are sometimes not possible (e.g., due to travel restrictions) or only under difficult conditions, such as a recognised Covid test.

In this context, the digitalisation process, in particular the access to the ship’s operation data and decision support systems are key for easier and more efficient fishing and other shipping industries. Remote and real time data access will allow to detect faulty engine operation which will help reduce downtime and inefficient fuel consumption. Meanwhile searching for productive fishing grounds is a time and fuel consuming task that can represent up to 50% of a vessel’s operational costs. Fuel consumption is also the driver of CO2 emissions, and in the container shipping and bulk shipping, an increasingly important KPI is the EEOI (Energy Efficiency Operating Index). This value describes the fuel consumption / CO2 emission depending on the cargo and the nautical miles travelled. The EEOI allows ships of the same class to be compared.

Within the project, decision support solutions are to be developed and investigated in order to optimize specific processes in fishing, but can also be applicable to other industries, for processes such as engine optimal operation and route planning for fuel consumption savings. In order to take customer needs and preferences into account, potential clients are to be included in the project. For this purpose, the SusTunTech team kindly asks you to fill the following questionnaire which will be considered in SusTunTech product development.