EMEA News
Blue Star Vessel Receives Updated Bunker and Emissions Monitoring Tech
Japan's Eco Marine Power (EMP) Friday announced that the Aquarius Management & Automation System (MAS) installed on Blue Star Delos, a high speed Ro-Pax vessel owned and operated by Attica Group subsidiary Blue Star Maritime S.A. (Blue Star Ferries), has been updated with new fuel oil consumption and emissions monitoring software.
The software is said to be part of an overall solution to monitor power output and status of a marine solar power system, installed on the vessel in 2014, and has now been updated to combine with the Aquarius MAS hardware, which enables bunker consumption data from all vessel flow meters to be displayed and logged in real-time.
The system is also said to calculate CO2, NOx and SOx emissions outputs based on the fuel type being used by the vessel, and includes a trip-meter to monitor fuel consumption during specified time period or voyage.
"This is another important step forwards in our project with Eco Marine Power and we are pleased that Blue Star Ferries is once again a pioneer in bringing innovative solutions to the shipping sector," said Myron Vergis, Director, Electrical & Electronic Department for the Attica Group.
The fuel and emissions monitoring software is said to have been developed in partnerships with Osaka's KEI System Ltd., and will be made available through a new hardware and software package, known as Aquarius MAS Compact.
"We are very appreciative of the co-operation and support we have received from Blue Star Ferries during the project on Delos," said Greg Atkinson, Chief Technology Officer at EMP.
"The company continues to demonstrate its commitment to embracing technologies that help make shipping more sustainable."
In terms of hardware and software, the solution is said to be nearly identical to Aquarius MAS, but does not include functions or interfaces to manage a marine solar power system - although EMP says these could be included at a later date with a further hardware and software upgrade.
In January, Ship & Bunker reported that the use of the bunker saving solar energy system aboard the Blue Star Delos had helped its owner to a Silver Award at the Energy Mastering Awards 2015 event under the category of Energy Efficiency Management - Means of Public Transport.
