United Heavy Lift starts deployment of Syroco’s next generation weather routing platform

Validated through a pilot phase on three vessels, the solution uses digital twins and machine learning to reduce fuel consumption and ensure safety of special cargo.

Marseille, January 9, 2025 - Syroco, the Climate Tech startup which supports the energy transition of maritime transportation, announced today that United Heavy Lift, the leading provider of ocean transportation services for heavy lift, breakbulk, and project cargoes, has confirmed the deployment of Syroco’s weather routing platform on 11 vessels in their fleet of 19 heavy lift vessels. 

Fleet-wide solution deployment

After a pilot phase on three vessels, the operator has decided to deploy the Syroco solution on eleven F900 Eco-Lifter class ships. The 150 metre long heavy lift vessels, with a transport capacity of more than 15,000 tons, are used for transporting many types of cargo including modules, renewable energy components, machinery, mining equipment and other industrial goods.  

Lars zum Felde from UHL explained: “Given the diversity of cargo entrusted to us, no voyage is identical to another. The Syroco platform is versatile, using accurate digital twins that take into account specific seakeeping characteristics of the vessels, which vary greatly based on the load carried. During the pilot phase, we were able to significantly improve decision making, increase accuracy of performance predictions, and measure a reduction in fuel consumption. Because the solution was proven more reliable than other routing tools used in the past, it generated strong adoption by our crews.”

Fuel consumption and seakeeping

Leveraging precise weather and sea data, Syroco uses a digital twin of the vessel, driven by data and machine learning. The easy-to-use and intuitive solution is used by crews to plan their voyage by finding the most optimal and safe route, taking into account operating constraints such as desired arrival time, and the seakeeping parameters of the laden vessel. After departure, Syroco updates the route as often as necessary to account for the evolution of weather conditions, and any change in schedule.

Augmenting the Syroco Live on-board app, the Syroco Onwatch service is available at any time to interact with vessel crews, support their decision making and analyse voyage conditions and performance. During the pilot phase, bridge officers routinely engaged with the Onwatch team and were able to minimise several encounters with severe depressions.

Alex Caizergues, President and Co-founder of Syroco, added: “United Heavy Lift is an innovative company and demonstrates an active commitment to increase the efficiency of their operations. The pilot phase has proven the effectiveness of the Syroco platform on their vessels, and the relevance of the support our team offers. With this extended deployment, they are placing in the hands of crews a latest generation routing and trip optimisation solution which will reduce the energy footprint of operations, while enhancing safety and performance.”