After a successful period of detailed testing with a number of key clients, Mojo Maritime, part of James Fisher and Sons plc, has launched its innovative marine operations planning and risk optimisation system, Mermaid.

Mermaid (Marine Economic Risk Management Aid) gives companies involved in marine operations increased understanding of the impact of weather and tidal forces on a project's schedule. By accurately simulating marine operations against historical weather and tidal data, Mermaid enables enhanced decision-making in the early planning stages to support significant cost-savings through project optimisation.

The system, which has undergone testing on a range of users, including an industry leading project development company, two marine services companies and a leading Russell Group University, allowed Mojo to gain vital feedback on the system prior to launch.

'We were delighted to be asked to take part in the testing of Mojo's Mermaid software. I have been very impressed by the standard of the software and the level of detail which can be derived and am in no doubt that this level of planning will become the norm.' Explained Tom Bewley, project engineer for Modus Seabed Intervention who supported the testing phase.

Mermaid will allow users to realistically simulate marine operations to uncover risks and critical operations prior to going offshore, enabling enhanced decision making in the early planning stages, which can be critical to the success and cost-effectiveness of an operation.

Mojo has been using the software internally for the last two years as a consultancy tool, but it's now available as a stand-alone product. With significant interest from companies involved in offshore operations, it is anticipated that Mermaid will prove popular for a number of key applications, including project planning and optimisation, bid preparation and review, vessel and port selection, as well as weather risk profiling and design.

'Having used Mermaid to help our clients understand the impact of weather risk, we understand that there is huge value in being able to set up, edit and compare individual simulations. I am hugely excited that we can now offer this powerful software as a desktop version.' Explained Dr Richard Walker.

Mermaid already has a proven track record of success, having been deployed on a number of projects for high profile clients in the offshore wind, wave and tidal sectors. The system was used to analyse cable-laying methods for offshore wind farms to determine the preferred method for cable storage and deployment and the vessel spread required to minimise cost, duration and risk. It has also demonstrated when it's possible to perform certain operations in marginal weather (where critical tasks had formerly been suspended) with minimal risk.

Another case assessing the foundation installation for offshore windfarms found cost and time could be halved by getting the installation vessel to track back and forth between the site and port instead of trying to transfer equipment from barges at sea.

Mojo Maritime's managing director, Richard Parkinson, said 'The analysis we can perform with Mermaid gives us invaluable knowledge of individual marine operations and allows cost and risk reduction to be performed early and successfully. We have demonstrated on numerous projects that Mermaid is accurate, informative and powerful.'

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