Tanker Drifts 280 Nautical Miles to Save Fuel

The Nord Integrity saved 27 tonnes of fuel moving on wind and currents alone

A Dampskibsselskabet NORDEN A/S (NORDEN) tanker saved 27 tonnes of fuel by stopping its main engine for more than three days, drifting 280 nautical miles on wind and sea current, the company reports in its news magazine.

Robit Ninocha, captain of the Nord Integrity, an MR product tanker weighing 47,400 tonnes, realized that the ship had enough time to spare on a the last leg of a ballast voyage between Brazil and Algeria that it could try traveling without using the engines.

The 27 tonnes of fuel saved corresponded to $17,064 in reduced costs.

"This is a captain who is capable of thinking out of the box," said Jens Malund Jensen, head of Norient Product Pool (NPP) Operations.

"Not everyone gets the idea to use nature's own forces like that."

Still, Jensen said this type of maneuver could not be carried out often since it requires excess time in the ship's schedule, appropriate wind and sea currents, and space to move naturally.

He said it would also be impossible for a laden voyage, when contracts generally require that ships move with "utmost despatch."

Per Mansson, managing director of shipbroker Norocean Stockholm AB, told Bloomberg that he saw ships drift between Sweden and the Caribbean for as many as 14 days during the 1970s.

"You could see more of this on specific routes, given how fuel prices are," he said. "It's never difficult as long as the currents are right."

Japan's Eco Marine Power Co. Ltd. (EMP) are one of a number of companies trying to make it easier for modern era ship operators to harness wind power, and recently announced it was collaborating with Solbian Energie Alternative (Solbian) to also jointly develop the Italian firm's solar cell technology for marine projects.