Signol: Engaging the crew towards sailing to net zero

Harriet Hunnisett-Johnson also stressed the significance of recognizing crew members’ contributions and empowering them in the decarbonization process. Additionally, she addressed the barriers to decarbonization, the role of leadership, and the need for effective communication and collaboration across the industry.

SAFETY4SEA: What is currently the biggest challenge for the maritime industry from your perspective?

H.H.J: As the maritime industry implements new legislation, regulations and technologies to try to reduce emissions, the skill sets demanded of crew are very quickly changing. The crew are already stretched physically and mentally, working in tough and isolating conditions, so the challenge is around how to engage and support crew members so that they can effectively play their role in decarbonisation efforts, rather than putting more pressure on them. 

What is being asked of the crew of a vessel when introducing new technologies should be carefully considered, and communication is key. We need to put more effort across the whole maritime industry into understanding the impact on our crews as they are faced with the daily decisions around safety, the environment and handling cargo.

S4S: Tell us a few words about your platform. How can it improve energy efficiency onboard vessels? 

H.H.J: Signol is a digital fuel efficiency service designed to make it easier for crew members to save fuel, without adding to their workload. We do this by engaging crew members with behaviour change techniques through a web app and targeted emails.

The service is designed off the back of Signol’s analysis of the factors which make it harder for crew members to act on their fuel-saving opportunities. These include cognitive overload, a lack of timely reminders, and other psychological, environmental and social factors. 

By addressing these barriers directly with an engaging, personalised solution, we can really help minimise missed opportunities for fuel-saving. These little changes can add up to a significant reduction in fuel consumption and emissions produced—as much as 5-12% within a few months. 

As a former deck officer and then chief officer during my career at sea, it’s so important for me that our solution doesn’t burden seafarers with extra work beyond their day-to-day tasks. Signol uses existing data and processes onboard a vessel which means our service slots seamlessly into normal operations, requiring minimal effort for crew members, management and the shipping companies to start improving fuel efficiency.

S4S: What are the key actions that will make a step change in industry’s performance across a zero-emission future?

H.H.J: It’s been great to see that cross-industry action is becoming more of a priority in the last year, with industry bodies like the Global Maritime Forum coordinating collaborative efforts to improve operational efficiency.

It’s tough to pin down key steps towards net zero which apply to the whole industry, as each vessel, route and cargo has different considerations and practical limitations. For example, LNG tankers will have very different fuel efficiency practices (e.g. using the cargo’s boil-off gas for fuel and LNG propulsion) and safety considerations since LNG cargo is sensitive to temperature, pressure and vessel movement.

But there is a common factor across all vessels: crew members’ actions and decisions do directly affect energy performance and emissions. That’s why I think a key action for the whole industry is to shift our thinking slightly so that we’re making the most of opportunities we already have to reduce emissions, rather than only prioritising alternative fuels and other technical solutions which require significant investment and implementation and won’t move the needle in the short-term. 

A zero emission future requires action today, and engaging highly skilled crew members – who have the awareness and insight for their specific operations – has to be the first step. 

S4S: From your perspective, what are the key barriers that the maritime industry is currently facing with regards to decarbonization? What are your suggestions to turn these into opportunities?

H.H.J: The key barriers to decarbonising shipping are a lack of communication and shared incentives between stakeholders across the industry. When we consider the different motivations and priorities of ship owners, charterers, managers and crew members, it’s clear that they won’t always be pulling in the same direction. We even see this with the introduction of EU ETS, since charterers’ decisions will impact vessel emissions, but owners ultimately bear the responsibility and financial cost. 

We do have an opportunity to change this by promoting a culture across the industry in which everyone gets behind a common goal of decarbonisation.

S4S: How can the crew be effectively motivated to make the right decisions that will save fuel and improve operational efficiency?

H.H.J: We know that crew members are more motivated when they understand their own impact and this is reinforced with positive feedback. 

Signol’s research has shown that crew members respond positively when they have a clear insight into their personal impact on fuel consumption. In fact, framing an individual’s behaviour in terms of the CO₂ savings they are directly responsible for works as an effective ‘reward’ for their fuel-saving decisions. There are also opportunities to add more direct incentives or rewards for fuel-saving achievements, especially if these rewards also help improve the crew’s well-being, like donations to ships’ welfare funds or offering mobile credits for crew members to better connect with loved ones.

Motivating crew members on operational efficiency is much easier if they have fair, realistic goals to work towards. These goals should be tied to specific fuel-saving opportunities so individuals understand exactly how to achieve them. Goals should also explicitly account for instances when fuel-saving decisions are not possible, safe, or practical.

This first step in improving motivation is ensuring that crew members feel empowered and recognised as key drivers in decarbonisation efforts. Even small changes in how management communicates with crew can encourage buy-in and engagement with new initiatives.

S4S: In your view, what needs to change onboard to witness actual improvements in fuel efficiency? What roles does leadership play towards?

H.H.J: The crew need to be recognised, involved and praised for their roles in decarbonisation. 

Any practical barriers for change onboard need to be reduced, like the administrative burdens of multiple reporting processes, and fielding questions from various shore-based stakeholders that could be answered by coordination and automation. Any other unnecessary workloads for the crew also need to be tackled with the right processes and solutions, to give them the ability to prioritise decarbonisation and efficiency measures. 

Improving the well-being of the crew is also an essential factor, as this affects all aspects of their work and the capacity for embracing change and new procedures. 

S4S: As digitalization and new technologies continue to emerge, have you identified any alarming trends/new needs for crew onboard to consider?

H.H.J: It is common for companies to trial various systems and new technologies onboard vessels, sometimes simultaneously. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but considering that each new system requires extra training and input from the crew, it’s worrying when these decisions aren’t driven by a well-considered strategy. I find it particularly concerning when companies don’t think about the best use of crew members’ time and effort when they trial multiple initiatives at the same time.

We know, from conducting interviews with a range of shipping crews over the last year, that this can create disillusionment with decarbonisation initiatives, not to mention the impact on crew’s stress levels. It’s so important for managers to consider how best to engage crew members, how to communicate about these initiatives and what training and support is needed, as opposed to just throwing more and more technology tools at the problem.

We don’t want to discourage new initiatives onboard; pilot projects are an important step towards reaching net zero. But we do need to facilitate better collaboration and knowledge-sharing across the industry so that shipping companies can benefit from these trials without having to implement every project themselves. This is a key principle of the Global Maritime Forum’s operational efficiency ambition statement.

S4S: If you could change one thing from your perspective, what this one thing would it be and why?

H.H.J: I want to see a change in attitudes towards crew communication. This should be a two-way channel with appropriate opportunities for crew members to give feedback and report any issues. Effective communication has to ensure that the crew are listened to as well as informed in a manageable way.

S4S: Do you have any projects/ plans that you would like to share with industry stakeholders?

H.H.J: As part of Signol’s commitment to engaging with crew members in whatever way works best for them as individuals, we are developing AI-enabled feedback loops that allow us to deploy behaviour change techniques in increasingly personalised ways for each crew member, based on their specific needs and behaviour patterns. We see a huge opportunity in AI-enabled personalisation which is really the cutting edge of behavioural science and can achieve an even greater impact for decarbonisation. 

We’re also working closely with a number of data providers that shipping companies are already using in their vessel performance management processes. This allows us to build sophisticated models of fuel-saving opportunities onboard which we can then adapt and reuse for any shipping company already plugged into that data provider. These companies will essentially be able to ‘switch on’ Signol almost immediately but still benefit from the proprietary research and data science which drives our service.

S4S: What is your key message to industry stakeholders for a more sustainable future?

H.H.J: All stakeholders need to remember that each vessel has people onboard constantly maintaining, monitoring and making the vessels run, and that this is the key to unlocking greater efficiency. Engaging directly with the crew is such an important way to understand and solve efficiency problems and the barriers to decarbonisation.

The views presented are only those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.