A recent news article published in the Riviera interprets how shipowners save costs through fuel monitoring and benchmarking.
Thousands of dollars can be saved
Shipowners and operators can save thousands of dollars a day by using data from fuel monitoring to cut consumption.
They will need to cut gaseous emissions from fleets through fuel monitoring and benchmarking to meet tightening regional and global environmental regulations, attendees heard during Riviera Maritime Media’s Fuel monitoring: connecting to compliance and fuel savings webinar.
This event, sponsored by FuelTrax, Innospec and Viswa Group, was held 26 May 2022 during Riviera’s Asia Maritime Webinar Week.
The expert panel was made up of Viswa Group business development manager Ganesh Natarajan, FuelTrax vice president of operations John Donovan, Wilhelmsen Ship Management head of data and performance management Øyvind Stordal and Innospec head of sales and marketing in Asia Pacific for marine and fuel specialities Martin Chew.
Fuel monitoring and emission management
Mr Stordal explained why fuel monitoring and emissions management will become more important for shipowners and operators as environmental regulations are enforced.
He said IMO’s upcoming carbon intensity indicator (CII) and the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) will impact shipping costs and drive owners to lower emissions.
“Shipowners need to prepare for new regulations,” Mr Stordal said. “There could be a huge financial impact on shipping as a whole.”
CII is expected to begin to impact shipowners’ operations in 2023, encouraging them to reduce CO2emissions.
The EU ETS is expected to come into force January 2024 for ships of more than 5,000 gt. “Entities will need to buy the right to emit CO2 when in EU waters,” Mr Stordal said.
Discussions this month in the European Parliament changed the rules for when the ETS will affect shipping.
“EU ETS has been delayed for a year, but there will no longer be a phase-in period, with 100% of emissions covered from day one,” said Mr Stordal.
Smaller ships will also be embroiled in this regulation, as from 2028, all vessels 400-5,000 gt will also be included in EU ETS. In addition, nitrogen oxides and methane emissions will be included in the trading scheme.
Shipowners, operators and managers will need to initiate actions to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by involving crews and monitoring performance.
Wilhelmsen has introduced an active performance and compliance monitoring system for its shipowner clients to manage and plan their operations as regulations come into force.
Mr Donovan presented the benefits of electronically monitoring fuel on vessels using independent sensors and communications networks.
FuelTrax has been installed on 720 vessels, mainly those supporting the offshore oil and gas sector where chartering energy companies are keen on monitoring fuel use and bunkering.
“Charterers want standardised suites of sensors for equalised data across fleets,” said Mr Donovan. “They want data from stabilised Coriolis mass flow sensors for electronic fuel management with auditable accuracy that is independent from other ship systems.”
This way data is not derived from crew readings in noon reports or unqualified sensors.
FuelTrax measures engine consumption, tank levels and fuel transfers. Data on the position and speed of the vessel comes from the Global Navigation Satellite System, particularly US-backed GPS, which Mr Donovan said was more accurate than the Automatic Identification System (AIS).
Ship information is transmitted in real-time over bidirectional communications L-band, particular Iridium satellites, to the FuelNet web portal. Data is sent encrypted at one-minute resolution along with remote calibration and automatic software updates.
FuelNet is a cloud-based portal, which tracks assets in real-time with automatic consumption reporting and operational alerts.
FuelTrax installation can result in 19% cost savings
For offshore support vessels, FuelTrax installation can result in 19% cost savings as it observes fuel consumption over varied operations including during transits, when vessels are on standby or operated with dynamic positioning.
Mr Natarajan discussed how benchmarking lubricant oil and fuels can save money for shipowners and operators. Viswa Group has developed methodologies using algorithms to calculate the quality of lube oil and its potential effect on ship engines.
“We devised the algorithm with input from science, lab-based tests and instrument results,” he explained. “This algorithm converts qualitative data into quantitative for a particular oil versus another.”
Shipowners can make tangible savings from benchmarking lubricants. Mr Natarajan said owners could save more than US$700M from selecting more effective lube oil with better performance qualities to prevent unplanned maintenance and extend overhauls.
“For this instance, the savings have been calculated based on the technical specifications of a vessel with a 10-MW main engine and four 750-kW auxiliary engines,” Mr Natarajan said.
Calculated total annual tangible savings would be US$14,680 per ship. “For a fleet of 50 such vessels this would be US$734,000.”
Mr Natarajan said a similar service has been developed for heavy fuel oil and very low sulphur fuel oils. “We are looking at energy potential from fuels, looking at the energy density, calorific value and combustion properties of fuels,” he said.
Benchmarking fuels could lead to savings
Benchmarking fuels could lead to savings in consumption and emissions of at least 5%.
Mr Chew explained how shipowners can get more efficient engine combustion by using fuels with a catalytic additive.
“Our catalyst brings more oxygen into the fuel, which means the fuel has more energy when burning,” he said, adding fuels can have up to 40% better burn because there is a more complete combustion.
“We treat fuel precombustion making it more homogenous and preventing fuel lost as sludge,” said Mr Chew. It improves atomisation and separation efficiency at this stage.
During combustion, this fuel additive improves ignition by reducing ignition delay and raises the release of energy. Because of the cleaner combustion, there is less soot and particulates in exhaust emissions.
“Our catalyst reduces fuel consumption and makes engines more efficient,” said Mr Chew.
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Source: Riviera
You’re right, it’s really important to manage your fleet efficiently and control various fuel costs. Now big companies, as far as I know, are using solutions like fleet management software, which can help in managing purchases and crew management, and even monitor maintenance.