The Blue Visby cross-industry project aimed at reducing shipping’s greenhouse gas emissions by tackling the sail fast, then wait practice has completed another series of prototype trials, delivering average savings of about 29%.
The trials involved 16 LPG carriers under charter by Marubeni Corporation across 40 voyages during a period of three months. The technology was tested as a decision-support tool in a first come, first served (FCFS) scenario, providing the necessary optimisation information and recommendations for the operator to decide whether or not to implement the Blue Visby solution.
The Marubeni trial follows on from those completed earlier this year involving two supramax bulkers under charter by Blue Visby Consortium member CBH Group, which demonstrated fuel and GHG emissions savings of about 8-28%. The CBH trial was designed to test the platform in the context of optimising for the needs of a terminal stem, thereby demonstrating the feasibility of deploying the Blue Visby solution in the two main operating environments in maritime trade.
A key parameter of the trials covering the LPG sector involved monitoring the operational status of a total of some 919 vessels on a 24/7 basis, with 31 actionable recommendations issued for vessels to reduce speed from an average of 13.6 knots to an average of 10.6 knots to deliver fuel and GHG reductions.
The Blue Visby consortium, comprising more than 40 members, is coordinated jointly by NAPA and maritime law experts from the international law firm Stephenson Harwood. The plan is to scale up and extend on the experience and learnings of the two trials next year with other consortium members and in other market segments.
