Abu Dhabi Shipping Companies Aim for 27% Bunker Savings with Ship Efficiency Project

ADNATCO and NGSCO are aiming to gain an annual 27 percent energy savings through a five-year ship efficiency programme, known as Al Daffah.

Abu Dhabi National Tanker Company (ADNATCO) and National Gas Shipping Company (NGSCO) are aiming to gain an annual 27 percent energy savings through a five-year ship efficiency programme, known as Al Daffah, Tanker Shipping & Trade reports.

Under the programme, the companies will develop a fleet wide Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan, which is said to be slated for implementation by 2017, and will translate to a $25 million annual savings and a CO2 reduction of about 250,000 tonnes.

"In 2015, we achieved CO2 reductions of 200,000 mt and fuel savings of 64,285 mt," said Captain Mohamed Al Ali, SVP Operations, ADNATCO and NGSCO.

"ADNATCO and NGSCO embarked on an extensive study on the energy performance of the company's fleet to identify areas for improvement. Six major areas were identified and various recommendations were made to enhance our energy performance."

Al Ali says ADNATCO and NGSCO have also installed monitoring tools onboard their vessels, including Marorka's marine energy management and fleet performance system, and appointed a dedicated team for project implementation.

The vessel monitoring system, which analyses vessel energy consumption and provides advice on how to efficiency, is said to already be installed onboard six vessels, showing a potential energy savings of up to 10 percent.

The project will also see the system installed on a further 16 vessels, and see the possible retrofit of MEWIS duct technology.

"MEWIS Duct solution works to direct the water stream toward the ship propeller and aims to improve ship speed and efficiency. The test trails we carried out on board one of our vessels showed significant propulsion and hull efficiency with recorded fuel savings of up to 6 percent," explained Al Ali.

The next stage of the energy efficiency initiative will see ADNATCO and NGSCO develop short and long-term energy efficiency strategy at corporate level, fleet level, and ship level, as well as for monitoring employee performance.

In May, Marorka announced that it had signed an agreement with Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Research Institute (SMDERI) intended to see the two organisations cooperate on the promotion of maritime energy management in order to enhance the "green competitiveness" of Chinese shipping.