New APL Ships To Be 20% More Fuel-Efficient

APL hopes a new hull will make their ships 20% more fuel-efficient per TEU

A new hull design will make 10 new 13,800 TEU ships to be operated by APL Limited (APL) 20 percent more fuel-efficient per TEU, according to the company and its partners.

The fuel savings were said to be worth about $3 million per ship per year.

APL, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) used computer models to analyse the trading pattern of the ships, which operate between the Far East and Europe, and optimise the hull for nine different combinations of speed and draught that the ships encounter.

“We managed not only to keep the tight design schedule, but also to unlock an amazing potential for fuel savings,” said Gyung-Jin Ha, Executive Vice President of the Basic Design Office in the Shipbuilding Division of HHI.

"These ships will be the most fuel-efficient ships ever built to the Asia-Europe container trade," commented Cedric Foo, Group Deputy President and CFO of APL’s parent company NOL.

The ships will operate at typical speeds between 15 and 19.5 knots, with a maximum of about 23 knots, and propulsive power will be about 16 percent lower than with an initial hull design optimised for only one speed and draught condition.

"This is the way of the future. Financial and environmental performance demands more sophistication," said Tor Svensen, President DNV Maritime and Oil & Gas

HHI is now building the first of the new ships, which is scheduled to be delivered next year.

Maersk Line is also taking steps toward more energy-efficient hull design, and is adding 20 ships to its fleet with rounded, rather than streamlined, hulls.

When the order was announced in February 2011, Maersk Line said the new vessels would produce 50% less CO2 per container moved than the industry average on the Asia–Europe trade lane, and use 35% less fuel per container than the 13,100 TEU vessels being delivered to other container shipping lines in the next few years.