DNV releases new Steel Load Planner app for safer and more efficient transport of steel coils

Sep 25, 2023

By: AJOT | Jun 08 2023 at 11:52 AM | Maritime

At the Nor-Shipping trade fair, Classification society DNV released its new Steel Load Planner (SLP), a self-service application that can provide instant confirmation of rule compliance for proposed loading plans. Steel Load Planner, provides users with a reliable and efficient solution for the transport of steel coils, enabling optimised cargo intake, ensuring compliance with the applicable rules, and reducing the risk of accidents and incidents at sea.

Steel coils come in various sizes and weights, making it challenging for ship managers and operators to assess whether their vessels are suitable for a proposed shipment. With SLP, users can tailor a vessel's loading plan according to the proposed shipment, for any steel coil dimensions. At the same time, they can confirm the vessel's inner hull strength capacity for the shipment according to the applicable rules. Users can then easily create, check, and print the load plan, ensuring the load can be transported securely, while utilising the maximum cargo capacity of the vessel.

"Steel Load Planner is going to be a real game-changer for our customers," said Morten Løvstad, Vice President and Global Business Director for Bulk Carriers, DNV Maritime. "The SLP app provides the possibility to verify various loading plans virtually instantly. It also provides a lot of flexibility on the size and dimension of the coils and allows for a wide range of different loading patterns. This increased hold utilization means that our customers are optimising their cargo intake, leading to not only improved revenue opportunities, but reduced emissions. By using SLP customers can also simplify their internal processes, save time, and improve communication between interested parties by giving near real-time access to reliable and accurate data."

While every vessel must be provided with an approved cargo securing manual, most of these manuals do not contain detailed information regarding the carriage of steel coils or only particular types of steel coil, leaving it up to the loading planner to find a way to determine the loading limits. The Steel Load Planner has been designed to be particularly useful for those cargo planners preparing the stowage of steel coils in general dry cargo vessels or bulk carriers, where cargo-type-specific information, which they need to determine the permissible cargo load and avoid damage to the ship structure, is often lacking.

"DNV's Steel Load Planner is a valuable tool for cargo planners who need reliable information to determine quickly whether a given type of steel coil can be transported by the vessel, and if so, how the cargo should be stowed to ensure safe carriage," said Løvstad. "With SLP we're also giving our customers a simple solution that can help to increase their transparency and the confidence of cargo owners, while improving communication between the port, captain, and crew."