DNV GL, VPS Team Up to Show How Bunker Quality Impacts Vessel Performance

Dr. Torsten Büssow, Head of Fleet Performance Management at DNV GL – Maritime

DNV GL has announced the signing of a cooperation agreement with Veritas Petroleum Services (VPS) to develop a new module for its ECO Insight fleet performance management solution that will allow owners, operators, and managers to determine how fuel quality can result in performance differences between similar vessels.

The new module will use VPS's fuel sampling database - said to be the largest in the world - to catalogue quality data in a way that owners and operators can understand how fuel quality results in performance fluctuations between vessels.

"Fuel quality is a factor which is often overlooked in performance management, but it can have a significant impact. We recommend carrying out lab tests on bunkered fuel," explains Bjørn Olav Odland of VPS Nordic Countries.

"Together with DNV GL we can now tap into the wealth of data generated by these tests and make it available to customers aiming to improve their fleet's performance."

The design of the module commenced in January of this year, and Dr. Torsten Büssow, DNV GL's head of fleet performance management, said the second half of 2015 will be used to implement it into ECO Insight.

"Our web-based portal structures this vast amount of data, which would normally be difficult for individual owners and operators to analyse - enabling them to make more informed business decisions," he said.

DNV GL says the ECO Insight portal was developed to allow users to easily manage the performance of a fleet, including voyage, hull & propeller, engine, and systems performance.

News of the module comes on the heels of DNV GL signing an agreement with The Jotun Group paint manufacturer to reduce customers' emissions and fuel costs by improving hull performance.