Taking Out The Guesswork: How On Watch has Realised Operational Benefits at Transdev Sydney Ferries.

Transdev Sydney Ferries is a substantial maritime operation - the largest in Australia and of global significance. It moves 15.5 million customers annually between 38 wharves around the iconic Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River.

The fleet consists of 45 ferries across 9 vessel classes, making around 2,500 weekly trips and operating for up to 18 hours per day, 7 days per week. In practice, large parts of the fleet have downtimes of only 3 hours per day.

The Transdev Sydney Ferries team comprises over 600 people across vessel crews, maintenance and support positions.

Balmain Shipyards

Maintenance of the fleet asset

Transport for NSW, a state government department, contracts Transdev to operate and maintain the fleet. The first of many contract KPIs for Transdev Sydney Ferries is delivering reliable service to Sydney commuters.

A key component of fleet reliability is maintenance. This is where Hugh McKay, the Technical Superintendent of Transdev Student Ferries, comes in. In his role, Hugh is responsible for ensuring the boats don’t break down, thereby enhancing the reliability, safety, and efficiency of the fleet through a well-oiled maintenance program.

We spoke to Hugh at Balmain Shipyard, the Transdev Sydney Ferries maintenance site for the Sydney Ferries fleet for the past 50 years.

Today, On Watch has become vital to the maintenance operation of Sydney Ferries.

“On Watch monitors, records and allows us to report on 92 parameters on every vessel, across engine, steering and navigation. In fact, we gather 538,000 data points per hour. We get real-time access to every significant part of vessel performance, and its on-water location. It’s also a vital ingredient in safety, effectively a black box in the event of an incident”.

On Watch processes data from many on-vessel sensors

“The detailed texture that On Watch has enabled for every vessel in the fleet allows us to see trends. Trends that develop compared to previous hours, days and months, as well as benchmarks within and across vessel classes. This aspect is incredibly powerful. It allows us to fine-tune maintenance schedules and see problems emerging before alarms sound. It benefits safety and maintenance costs”.

“For example, we identified that early detection of small changes in fuel pressure in one of our vessel classes has improved vessel reliability and safety while lowering maintenance costs. The unfortunate fact is that fuel quality is not 100% consistent. Without data, we would have to maintain the fuel system, always assuming the worst fuel quality. Now, we gain insight into an upcoming maintenance need days in advance, that I can act on with priority, but not as an emergency”.

Examining the On Watch dashboard

“An outstanding aspect of On Watch is its ability to connect virtually any sensor. This provides a platform for us to expand and tailor the data and analysis specifically to the needs of our operation”.

“Data analysis helps us identify opportunities to operate the fleet more efficiently, reliably, and safely. It’s helped us narrow down the cause of issues and has largely eliminated guesswork”. 

Operational efficiency

A significant part of operational efficiency comes from vessel uptime or utilisation—how much of its time is spent moving passengers.

“On Watch data has helped us reschedule fuel bunkering (refuelling) to increase utilisation by refining our scheduling”.

“We’ve also been able to automate maintenance schedules according to operating timetables. So now, when a timetable changes, maintenance schedules roll out with the change”.

“Another example is the development of business cases. Data granularity enables us to demonstrate ROI outcomes in investment decisions with higher confidence levels”.

Continuous improvement

All the strategic frameworks and methods for improving operational efficiency point to continuous improvement based on observation at close proximity to the cause of waste. That’s what On Watch has helped deliver for Transdev Sydney Ferries.

“On Watch has certainly delivered a few ‘Eureka’ moments, such as the fuel pressure example I provided. But most of all, it has unlocked lots of incremental improvements”.

“On Watch has become an essential part of our asset management at Transdev Sydney Ferries. It’s the first thing I look at every morning”.