ExxonMobil Helps Triple Vessel's Engine Life, Shows Substantial Savings Potential

White says the CCM system can also help identify certain issues with the quality of bunker fuels.

ExxonMobil says that through a combination of its Cylinder Condition Monitoring (CCM) programme and the use of its Mobilgard 570 cylinder oil, it has helped a COSCO box ship reach a performance milestone of 55,000 hours of continuous engine use without maintenance, Iain White, field marketing manager at ExxonMobil Marine Fuels & Lubricants, has told Ship & Bunker.

"We've been involved with the vessel for some time now and 55,000 hours equates to about 5 years of use. This is a big box ship operating within 10-40 percent load range and slow steaming, so the most severe operating conditions we would expect to see in the real world," said White.

"What the operator has found is that with CCM and Mobilgard 570 cylinder oil they can keep going with the pistons rather than changing them, which would otherwise have been recommended by the engine manufacturer to do at 16,000 hours."

White explained that the achievement means the operator has gained a number of financial benefits.

Firstly, the extended running time effectively means that the vessel can keep operating for a full extra dry-dock cycle.

This not only saves on the cost of maintenance, but it also increases earnings as the vessel can remain utilized.

CCM also means the correct lube oil feed rate is achieved.

As White has previously explained to Ship & Bunker, this is important as both over and under lubrication can lead to excessive engine wear, but too much lube has the added financial penalty of unnecessary consumption.

"One of the things we've learnt as we continue to get more experience with CCM is how the optimum feed rate is very much engine and vessel specific. But in general what we find is CCM tells us that on newer, more corrosive engines we likely need to push the feed rate up, while on older engines we bring the feed rate down," said White.

"The winner here is the customer, with the goal being to get the feed rate as low as possible to save money while also staying effective, then the real value comes from saving on the maintenance."

CCM also offers other benefits, White added, such as identifying certain issues with the quality of bunker fuels.

"Operators now are seeing more fuels with higher levels of cat fines," he said.

"With CCM such a fuel will immediately be shown as having a spike in metals, but this highlights that buying quality fuel from a trusted supplier is an equally important part of the overall process."

Last year White explained to Ship & Bunker that buying higher specification, better quality bunkers can save operators thousands of dollars in real world use.