Owners’ initiatives
reduction of 670 tonnes of carbon dioxide per ship. The ferry company also benefits from vessel performance data collected and delivered ashore as daily voyage reports. This allows the firm’s onshore team to monitor performance with the aim of raising operating efficiency. Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line has just announced its decision to deploy Fleet on nine of its cruise vessels. The five-year deal covering the web-based vessel performance system follows the cruise line’s earlier move to install DTA on its ships in 2008. The Fleet system will operate by analysing cumulative data from vessels equipped with DTA. Additional data that is now likely to be available include hull ageing analysis and the extent and rate of fouling. This should facilitate improved decision-making on issues such as hull cleaning
Real-time data help shipboard decision-making
methods and intervals, and choice of hull coatings. Earlier this year, Hamburg Süd announced plans to install 12 extra DTA systems on board its post- panamax vessels by the end of September, and on board other ‘Santa’ class 7100teu vessels as they are delivered this year and
Thumbs up from Hamburg Süd F
red Deichmann, md of Columbus Shipmanagement, was
instrumental in the decision to invest in Eniram's Dynamic Trimming Assistant (DTA) on board 26 of Hamburg Süd's container ships. In-service performance, he says, has proved successful and more container vessels in the company's fleet are to have installations in the future.
Although the company's ships are not sailing at their full speed of a typical 22-23 knots – and Hamburg Süd does not expect them to resume full speed any time soon – the company says the economics are still compelling. And the payback period just gets shorter with every hike in bunker prices. Fuel prices for container lines are set to rise further as ships are compelled to burn more expensive low-sulphur fuels in a growing number of regions. ‘When I started my career at the beginning of the 1980s, we were just recovering from the second oil crisis and my job was to chase every single horsepower and kilojoule on board,’ he recalls. ‘We worked out lots of energy- saving measures, but then oil prices came down and everything was put away in a locker.’
However, he says, the difference between then and now is the ability to process performance data and thereby support shipboard staff with real-time information and guidance. Whereas in those days, he and his seafaring colleagues might experiment with speed, fuel consumption and trim,
measurements had to be double- checked against original numbers to mitigate the impact of other external factors. The process was, therefore, hit and miss.
Deichmann admits that he was sceptical about Eniram's claims at the outset, but seven months of trials confirmed they were spot on. ‘We know that ships typically need 8-10% more power in operation than predicted by tank tests,’ he explains.
Various factors account for this – wind, waves and currents, as well as trim. ‘But Eniram told us we'd get a 3% to 5% saving on average and that's what we get.’ The fact that the DTA has been installed on groups of sister vessels has enabled close comparisons to be made, adding further credence to the results. He speaks highly of Eniram personnel with whom he and his staff have built a sound working relationship. Deichmann says the software is clever and is aware of Eniram's development of more extensive vessel performance monitoring systems. Whilst the focus so far has been on the DTA, he is clearly interested in these systems which could well be installed on some company vessels in due course.
next. Describing DTA as a ‘must have,’ Fred Deichmann, md of Columbus Shipmanagement which operates the vessels, said that all new ships entering the fleet would be equipped with the DTA system ‘to ensure that they as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. (see box below).
DTA ‘must have’ for Hamburg Süd 37
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