Optimisation Software Saves 3.9% on Fuel Use

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday April 11, 2014

A new software solution for eco-efficiency reduced a container vessel's fuel use by 3.9 percent, classification society ClassNK and software firm Napa said in an emailed statement.

The ClassNK-NAPA GREEN product was tested in full-scale sea trials on an 8,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K Line) ship operating on a Mediterranean/Europe route.

The tests used a full suite of systems, including speed, trim, and voyage optimisation.

Trim optimisation accounted for 1.2 percent fuel savings, even though loading conditions limited the ability to adjust trim, and the firms indicated that variable alone has the potential to save up to 4 percent, based on a separate study of two Indian Ocean crossings.

The test also found that the self-learning component of the software, known as Dynamic Performance Model, achieved a prediction accuracy of as much as 99.6 percent.

"Although software solutions to optimize fuel consumption are nothing new, the differentiating factor for ClassNK-NAPA GREEN is the software's Dynamic Performance Model," said Napa Executive Vice President Esa Henttinen.

"It tunes the ship specific performance model on a continuous basis to give very accurate, transparent and true performance statistics to improve voyage optimization, trim optimization and performance reporting with payback on investment realized within months."

ClassNK announced last month that it would buy Napa for €53 million ($73 million).