How to get the most out of routine inspections in shipping

Digitization helped to improve many aspects of ship operations, but one of the fundamental technical operations - ship inspections and maintenance - remains primitive.

The maritime industry aims to become safer, smarter and more collaborative. Shipping companies are taking measures to reduce incident risks, improve efficiency and enhance team collaboration. Digitization helped to improve many aspects of ship operations, but one of the fundamental technical operations - ship inspections and maintenance - remains primitive.

Simplify inspections for crews while collecting structured data

Routine inspection is the foundation for safer technical operations. In reality, when trying to leverage data to improve efficiency and safety, it’s common to see companies collecting lots of data without generating meaningful insights. The reason for this is that data is not generated in a standardized and structured way. Inspection data is stored in different formats - paper forms, folders, excel sheets, word documents, and many times mixed with human error. This lack of standardization not only leaves teams trapped and blinded, but also doesn’t allow teams to act preemptively and efficiently. 

By digitizing routine inspections of vessels and their equipment, technical teams can more efficiently conduct maintenance and access the ship's condition in real-time.  

Kaiko Systems equips crews with a user-friendly mobile application, where they can plan, collect, and upload inspections in one platform, while providing reliable and visualized reports to shore teams. With Kaiko Systems: 

  • Crews saves up to 50% of their time spent on routine inspections
  • In-app guidance and visualizations help crews conduct inspections more precisely and eliminate the probability of errors
  • Digital checklists reduce double-work in vessel inspections
  • Pre-defined input fields support data standardization across the fleet

What crew members say: 
“Good guidance for inspections, photo uploads, checklists. I enjoy doing inspections now because it’s easier and faster.”
“I like using the app because it is simple and easy to use, saves a lot of time on paperwork.”
“When I was using application for the inspection of safety equipment, it was much easier to check and report with the application reporting schedule.”


Be confident in inspection data with AI-based plausibility checker

As the inspection procedures are becoming digitized, the platform becomes a single source of truth regarding the vessel's health. Shore teams are able to make weighted decisions based on the plausibility of data. 

Kaiko Systems collects and analyzes metadata using AI to identify reports as plausible or implausible data. Additionally, collecting metadata not only allows verification of the asset condition, but also shows how much effort crews spend on different inspections.

On the other hand, shore teams in technical and HSSQE departments receive inspection results in a dashboard that is intuitive to use and visualizes data in a comprehensive way. Technical teams can now be sure whether the inspection was done accordingly or if some procedures were taken from past reports. Confidence in processes and outcomes is improved, and maintenance follow-up is faster and accurate. Superintendents expressed 100% trust in the data collected through Kaiko Systems.

Improve workflows and streamline team collaboration

Digitization of routine inspections increases the efficiency for crews and shore teams and enables seamless collaboration. 

Paperless and instant inspection reporting 

When crews use a mobile app for inspection, they save time on filling paper checklists, creating reports on bridge computers, and compressing/uploading photos. Shore teams can access inspection reports in real-time and generate pdfs within seconds. 

Predefined and custom digital checklists

Predefined inspection checklists enable compliance with international and national safety regulations. There is always an audit trail of inspection results. Custom checklists help teams to prepare for regular events such as class or port state control inspections. Crews can complete a pre-PSC checklist to reassure that the ship is ready to pass port inspection smoothly. 

Reducing double pasting same procedures across company forms

Often, the same inspection procedure is repeated in many forms. Kaiko Systems makes it possible to pull certain procedures and adds to all necessary forms where those procedures must be presented. This allows technical teams to generate company forms instead of manually inputting data. 

What our customers say: 
“Complex data needs to be collected and analyzed on board and ashore. Our fleet is currently growing, and with increased size comes greater complexity in safety management.
With Kaiko Systems, we are able to solve this problem. Not only do we benefit as a ship management company and as a shipping community, but so do all of our employees who are responsible for the reliability of our fleet."
- Jens Moje, Managing Director, USC Barnkrug.

Leverage actionable insights for proactive technical operations

Teams can now gain actionable insights because data is structured, clean and verified. Kaiko Systems makes real-time analytics possible and presents the most important data in front.

The dashboard shows deteriorating components, overdue inspections and new findings. Teams are also able to conduct retrospective analysis to see which damages, root causes, preventive or corrective actions were most frequently reported across the fleet and take these insights into account for the future.

With Kaiko Systems, companies now can proactively manage their technical operations. Crews and shore teams can prepare for PSC inspections, identifying potential deficiencies and fixing them prior to entering ports. And TSIs are able to allocate their time on high-impact actions rather than spending time categorizing the data from paper reports. 

Over 250 teams turned frontline technical operations into structured and verified data. This has supercharged technical teams to optimize maintenance plans and proactively manage off-hire risks. Crews and shore teams significantly improved their workflows and collaboration.

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