EMEA News
3 Year Study Concludes Eco-Retrofits Can Realistically Give 5% Fuel Savings
A three-year study has found that green technologies such as using liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel and scrubbers can realistically help vessels achieve fuel savings of up to 5 percent, according to Netherlands-based maritime technology company Imtech Marine.
Over the course of the RETROFIT study, a group of 14 partners were involved with reviewing and comparing simulation models to existing applications.
The group chose a ferry operated by Acciona Trasmediterranea as the project's test vessel, which in addition to being equipped with remote connections to collect data, also had a prototype energy use system that automatically found the optimum way of saving fuel.
The study found even some relatively small but easy to make changes proved beneficial.
"Monitoring fuel consumption has enabled the company to find potential fuel savings of 0.8 percent by only optimising the ship's trim," said René Nuijten, a consultant with Imtech Marine.
"This is a small efficiency but makes it possible to get a return on investment in only one year."
The project was in part initiated by Imtech Marine, and was funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme.
"The project was a success and certainly showed that retrofitting can be beneficial," he added.
Last year, the company also announced that hybrid propulsion systems had helped two ferries produced fuel savings of 38 percent.
