Kittiwake Developments, provider of condition monitoring and asset protection technology, has announced a significant cost reduction and payment plan for its LinerSCAN product. LinerSCAN - online sensors that safeguard engine liners - can now be purchased for a markedly lower price, with the option to pay a lower up front cost and spread the remaining amount over a three-year period for multiple vessel purchases.

Martin Lucas, managing director at Kittiwake Developments, commented: “Kittiwake is renowned for listening to its customers’ needs and in adapting our pricing template we believe we have ensured LinerSCAN is now more affordable to more customers amid times of austerity. Now more than ever, ship owners and operators need to maintain a clear competitive advantage through reliable, consistent operations and ensuring profitability.

The marine industry recognises that effective condition monitoring is central to achieving this and the increased market penetration we have achieved with LinerSCAN has enabled us to intensify manufacturing volumes, allowing us to leverage reduced material costs and thus lower the price. We are also able to offer a deferred payment option for sales to five vessels or more, that ultimately make LinerSCAN more accessible to the marine market.”

Multi-Purpose Trending
Environmental demands are placing growing pressure on the efficiency and reliability of marine engines. Fuel testing agencies continue to make the correlation between declining sulphur levels and increasing levels of catalyst fines and subsequent engine damage; problems that industry experts predict will become progressively more pronounced as emissions regulations tighten.
LinerSCAN sensors continually monitor the scrapedown oil for ferrous wear, providing onboard engineers with actionable and trend-able readings with multiple purposes, the breadth of which is unrivalled. LinerSCAN can detect the very early onset of severe erosion, monitor scuffing, improve maintenance scheduling, safeguard against down time, optimise lubricant feed rate, decrease sampling and testing costs, minimise liner wear and detect ingress of CAT fines. This provides an early warning system and valuable insurance policy against engine damage, unscheduled downtime and the associated costs of both.
Traditionally such a product would have been an upfront capital expenditure, but the deferred payment approach allows purchasers to make a much lower initial payment from capital expenditure - with quarterly payments from the operational expenditure savings enabling customers to pay in installments for the remainder of the product over a period of three years.

Future Of Condition Monitoring
Automatic, online systems are viewed as the future of condition monitoring, as they enable continuous monitoring of engine condition and resultantly, a much faster and targeted reaction to signs of wear. During trials, scrapedown oil feed rate reduction of up to 40% was achieved using LinerSCAN, representing an annual saving of over USD 100,000 on a single vessel. Martin Lucas added: “As part of this innovative payment option, Kittiwake will service and maintain the fitted LinerSCAN over an agreed period and as required; noting that LinerSCAN has proven to be a very reliable product and therefore needs little maintenance. The collective impact of successful troubleshooting using online tools and technology can equate to millions of dollars in savings, while also avoiding increased workload and stress levels for maintenance supervisors and the crew when systems fail.”

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