Smart Ship Hub (SSH), the maritime intelligence and data collection platform, has launched one of the industry’s lowest priced universal onboard data loggers, dramatically reducing the cost and complexity traditionally associated with vessel digitalisation.
Priced at under $600, the Onboard Gateway captures high-frequency operational data from a vessel’s main engine, diesel generators, MOP, boilers, flow meters, shaft power meters, navigation systems, cargo consoles and other onboard equipment, delivering real-time intelligence from ship to shore. The onboard data logger also comes with an option of edge intelligence, built in analytics and data intelligence for fuel, hull, engine and cargo performance.
The launch represents a significant milestone for the maritime industry which continues to rely heavily on prohibitively expensive digitalisation methods or manual noon reports, unreliable manual collections of data, AIS transmissions and fragmented reporting systems to support critical commercial and operational decisions.
For decades, vessel data acquisition has been constrained by expensive hardware, proprietary integrations, lengthy deployment projects and low transparency in the process. As a result, much of the industry's most valuable operational data has remained inconsistent and locked onboard vessels, inaccessible to owners, operators, charterers and managers ashore.
Smart Ship Hub's new IOT gateway removes that barrier. Compatible with virtually all major maritime communication protocols, the system can be deployed across vessels regardless of age, ship type, machinery manufacturer or onboard configuration.
Joy Basu, CEO of Smart Ship Hub said: "The industry has spent years discussing digitalisation, AI and standardised reporting, but all of those ambitions depend on one thing: access to trusted data, in an industry standard format. We believe the biggest barrier has never been analytics; it has been low-cost data collection, collation and telemetry.
“By bringing the cost of high-frequency vessel data acquisition down to a level accessible to every owner, we are helping create a common digital foundation for the industry. AI-led automation significantly depends on contextual data, and Smart Ship Hub will increasingly be focussing on being the Data intelligence platform for Owners, Operators, Charterers, Ports, Insurers.
“This new technology can save a company thousands of dollars as well as many hours of manual work completed by a crew member in manually putting together reports. We see this as a significant move towards standardised noon reporting, meaning crew members can save up top 70 per cent in man hours spent on processing reports.”
Beyond asset monitoring, performance management and predictability in day-to-day operations, Smart Ship Hub sees the gateway as a critical building block in the industry's transition from manual reporting to maritime intelligence. Traditionally, noon reports vary between operators, vessel types and reporting formats, often requiring significant manual intervention. By collecting information directly from onboard systems, Smart Ship Hub's technology has the potential to support a future where operational reporting is generated from standardised, machine-sourced data rather than manually compiled inputs.
Mr Basu added: " The industry has navigated on AIS for years - a thin, self-reported signal which could potentially be in its end of life, and one that can be switched off or faked. Machine-sourced sensor data can't be. The real intelligence has always been onboard, and until now the cost of getting it off the vessel kept it out of reach. By making fleet sign-up near-zero cost and protocol-agnostic, we're putting fleet-grade data within reach of every owner, so each vessel, old or new, becomes a connected, intelligent node in the fleet. That is the foundation for a new era of safety, security and efficiency in ocean trade."
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