Case Study: Shell improves offshore vessel scheduling with Simio

Shell schedules 200+ offshore voyages a month with Simio

Shell, a major energy company, faced a significant challenge in scheduling its fleet of over 40 offshore supply vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. The manual process for coordinating thousands of shipments to offshore facilities was highly complex and inefficient, struggling with frequent delivery window changes, weather variability, port congestion, and a high volume of cargo, leading to substantial non-productive vessel time.

The vendor Simio provided a solution built on a spatially-aware discrete event simulation platform. This system automated the scheduling process by integrating real-time vessel status and demand requests, using a cost model to optimize vessel selection and voyage planning. The implementation provided Shell with comprehensive scheduling outputs, including Gantt charts and detailed reports, which significantly improved schedule transparency and effectiveness, reducing costs associated with delays and unused capacity.

Shell