Is structural monitoring for maritime assets a cost or investment?

With the advent of more digital connectivity leading to smarter ships, now is the time that Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) should be considered a crucial investment, instead of a cost for safer operations. Leveraging advanced SHM systems, like SENSFIB from Light Structures, allows ship and offshore asset owners to transform their approach to maintenance, resulting in significant savings and extended asset lifespan. It isn’t just a practical shift but also a financial strategy that redefines long-term value.

Traditional maintenance methods, such as periodic dry-docking and manual inspections, remain prevalent but SHM replaces outdated techniques with sensors and real-time data analytics, delivering insights directly to asset owners and enabling smarter, condition-based maintenance.

SHM empowers operators to optimise when and how they inspect vital components, like cargo tanks and hulls. Tank inspections, for instance, are extremely costly – sometimes as much as 50 to 100 times the price of a SENSFIB installation. For FPSO operators, who may face even higher inspection costs due to operational shutdowns, the financial rationale for structural monitoring is undeniable. By continuously monitoring asset conditions, owners can not only reduce inspection costs but also extend intervals between inspections, mitigating both direct expenses and associated downtime.

One of the primary benefits of SHM is the potential to shift from time-based to condition-based maintenance. Unlike conventional periodic inspections, which happen on a set schedule, condition-based maintenance (CBM) is led by sensors that can e.g., detect wear, corrosion, or potential issues. This early-detection capability reduces the frequency and cost of repairs, while helping prevent emergency repairs, which are often far more costly.

SENSFIB systems could, for instance, identify early-stage cracking that would otherwise go unnoticed until a scheduled inspection, allowing the operator to take preventative action and avoid the high costs of last-minute repairs while ensuring that assets remain in an optimal condition.

A well-integrated structural monitoring system, while requiring an upfront investment in sensors, software, and data infrastructure will quickly realize savings in reduced inspections, reduced dry docking for major repairs, and an extended asset lifespan. In fact, many industry experts estimate a payback period of three to five years, after which the system’s benefits contribute directly to the bottom line.

SHM also improves financial predictability by reducing unexpected repair costs. With real-time data, asset owners can make informed decisions on when to dry-dock, allowing for strategic scheduling that minimizes downtime and operational impact. Structural monitoring doesn’t only benefit maintenance schedules; it also extends the lifespan of ships and offshore assets. Wear patterns that could lead to catastrophic failures can be addressed enabling asset owners to defer capital-intensive newbuild projects, while the same data can also be used to improve new designs.

With such benefits in play, far from being a mere expense, structural monitoring represents a strategic investment that pays off not only in financial terms but also in long-term operational resilience. For today’s maritime industry then, the question isn’t whether to adopt structural monitoring; it’s how soon can the advantages be realised against the expenditure. And in the case of SENSFIB at least, the answer is often just within a few years.