With the global marine freight industry growing by 3.4% in 2024 to reach a value of $2,098.2 billion, according to GlobalData, it is evident that this is an industry that continues to thrive. However, the degree of rivalry in the global marine freight industry is strong, driven by fierce competition among the major players and the existence of shipping alliances[i].
Indicating a well-diversified geographical spread, figures from UNCTAD show that the majority of the world’s tonnage is owned by Asian companies, with countries such as China (347 million dwt), Japan (241 million dwt) holding significant portions. In terms of Europe, Greece has the most ship capacity (398 million dwt) with other European companies possessing 35% of the global carrying capacity although only 5% is held in North America.[ii]
Companies also face pressure from high fixed costs and offering similar services, leading to intensive competition, so innovation and technological advances are crucial for maintaining efficiency, reducing costs as much as possible, and meeting global demand.
As the growth trajectory continues to look promising yet highly competitive, we sat down with Filippos Athanassiadis – Engineering Manager – Europe Africa and Middle East, ExxonMobil to discuss how fleet owners and operators can keep operational costs down while running fleets as efficiently as possible.
Why has onboard two-stroke engine monitoring become so important to deep-sea shipping operators and fleet managers?
Two-stroke onboard engine monitoring has become essential for deep-sea shipping because it delivers on-demand, high-quality insights that seamlessly integrate into engineering operations.
With digital logbook recording, simplified sampling and testing, and guaranteed reporting, operators can gain accurate oil analysis and engineering insights, plus create customised notifications for maximum visibility.
ExxonMobil’s advanced service options go even further, offering tailored feed-rate advice, easy-to-read graphs covering trends on wear elements, TBN, detection of fuel and cat fines presence in the oil, fuel sulphur levels, and alerts for results exceeding OEM limits, along with historical comparisons and expanded elemental detection.
Every instance of the solution provides peace of mind and a clear understanding of total cost of ownership, helping fleets optimise performance and protect their engines.
Mobil℠ Cylinder Condition Monitoring solution provides robust, data-driven insights that enable crews to make real-time feed-rate changes that keep engines at optimum performance and optimise cylinder oil expenditure, driving cost efficiencies and increasing uptime[iii]. An added benefit is that any crew member can use it without specialised training or hazardous chemicals, having results in their hands within a few minutes, which is a huge step forward.
The Mobil℠ analysis tool offers a comparative assessment helping quantify the value in using Mobil Cylinder Condition Monitoring versus other lubricant analysis services. Supported by field engineers, ExxonMobil works collaboratively with operators to develop a strategy that helps optimise oil and equipment health and maximise savings, calculated and assessed by using a shipping vessel’s cylinder oil consumption, operating conditions, and lubricant unit price.
Furthermore, ExxonMobil’s expansive database can analyse vessel or fleet-wide data to project further consumption savings overall, and identifies ways to improve performance and efficiency through the streamlining of operations, increasing safety, maintenance prediction, and real-time data. Furthermore, it provides historical analysis of cylinder condition monitoring events to understand their causes, effects, and impact.
How does continuous engine monitoring help reduce operating costs?
Primarily, it can help to optimise engine operation in terms of lubrication mode, consumption, maintenance needs, and avoidance of sudden severe wear events. Continuous engine monitoring significantly reduces operating costs by improving lubrication and aligning with used fuel profile. The fuel sulphur profile can also be defined by independent analysis onboard of a fuel oil sample. This enables precise control over lubrication modes and feed rates, ensuring the right amount of oil is used for varying engine loads and fuel types. In addition, it also minimises excess consumption and prevents under-lubrication, which can lead to costly wear.
Furthermore, real-time data input, like cat fines presence detection, gives operators the ability to fine-tune engine performance for maximum fuel efficiency and protection, via proper fuel treatment that could also lead to overall spend optimisation. By identifying early signs of abnormal wear or component stress, monitoring supports predictive maintenance, thus avoiding sudden severe wear events and unplanned downtime.
The result is lower maintenance costs, extended component life, and improved operational reliability.
What specific wear and/damage can monitoring systems detect, particularly early issues to prevent unintended maintenance and downtime?
They can detect issues by measuring total iron, chromium, and residual BN in cylinder components of a two-stroke engine, like cylinder liners, piston, and rings condition, and can also detect system oil contamination in scrape down results.
. Providing further transparency, detection areas include corrosive wear, damage due to cat fines, lubrication throughput issues e.g., defective lubricating quills, and under/over lubrication.
How does engine monitoring improve compliance with emissions regulations (and ultimately, decarbonisation goals ambitions that companies/customers may have)?
Optimal engine running means optimal oil/fuel consumptions and spare parts replacements, hence more sustainability. In addition, correctly matching cylinder oil type/consumption and fuel also can contribute to meeting customer’s ambitions.
However, although not directly related to decarbonisation, feed-rate optimisation reduces waste, improves longer component life, and helps meet Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) objectives[iv].
What impact is real-time data having on maintenance scheduling and operational planning?
Real-time data is transforming maintenance scheduling and operational planning by enabling continuous visibility into engine and spare parts requirements. This allows operators to plan orders well in advance, reducing last-minute airfreight costs, ensuring spare parts availability, and minimizing vessel downtime. Additionally, oil analysis helps monitor component wear, allowing operators to optimize overhaul intervals and maintenance strategies.
It also allows companies to have real time results, avoiding the process of sending actual samples out to a lab and waiting for weeks for results, and allows for condition-based maintenance, consequently, extending the life of equipment including pistons and cylinder lines.
In terms of engine reliability – how does lubricant condition, monitoring data, and system performance combine to ensure engines are operating optimally?
It is exactly like a human blood check, as lubricant acts as a complete sensor for engine operation status. Lubricant condition data and vessel operating conditions are interrelated and evaluated to decide on optimal engine operation. Furthermore, with vessels frequently switching between fuels—sometimes with minimal lead time – maintaining a safe transition between different fuel types is essential. Lubricant condition monitoring can help safeguard engine performance during these rapid fuel changes.
Considering the changing fuels landscape/challenges of future fuel operation with the application of multi fuels and limited experience of fuels such as ammonia, methanol, etc, monitoring your engine can help you safeguard operation of your engine with issues that may arise
What are the major themes emerging in sensor technology, data analytics, and AI that are contributing to the development of engine monitoring?
At present, perhaps the most important is the theme of speed/ease of monitoring – little manual interventions and no wet chemistry – with the range of monitoring capabilities and laboratory-type data accuracy. These issues are currently shaping significant elements of engine monitoring across the industry.
For further information on ExxonMobil’s solutions, please download the paper below.
[i] GlobalData Industry Profile, Global Marine Freight, July 2025
[ii] The UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2025
[iii] Mobil℠ Cylinder Condition Monitoring
[iv] Improving the energy efficiency of ships, IMO
