Mojo Maritime’s marine project planning system, Mermaid, is currently undergoing detailed testing with a number of key clients, as the company aims to launch it towards the end of October 2015.
Mermaid, Marine Economic Risk Management Aid, gives companies involved in marine operations a more detailed understanding of the impact of weather and tidal forces on a project’s schedule, enabling enhanced decision making in the early planning stages. The system accurately simulates marine operations against historical weather and tidal data to support significant cost-savings through project optimisation, Mojo says.
The user acceptance testing phase is critical to ensure that that the function, capability and usability of the software has been tested in real world situations. The feedback received from participating clients will be invaluable in ensuring that Mermaid is ready to take the marine industry’s planning processes onto the next level.
Mojo’s senior analyst, Dr Rich Walker , explains: “By calibrating accurate weather information dating back over many years (typically between 10 and 23 years), factoring in wave height, sea conditions, wind strength and current velocity and direction, Mermaid enables companies to select the best vessels, ports, methods and processes to suit any proposed project start date.”
Walker adds: “This has massive cost-saving implications for a huge variety of marine operations from the offshore renewable market to the oil and gas industries, as well as the shipping and insurance world.”
The development of Mermaid began five years ago as Dr Walker’s PhD research at the University of Exeter and after several years use as a consultancy tool by Mojo, the company set its sights on making the software tool as accessible as possible.
“You cannot change the weather, but with Mermaid, you might be able to control the various elements of your project that are impacted by the weather, and engineer out your risk,” concludes Walker .
Image: Mojo Maritime