[140213.EN.SEA] Software Firm Says Shipping Needs Real Time Fuel, Emissions Monitors

HELSINKI's NAPA maritime software company is warning owners and managers that logbooks and noon reports are no longer the best means of monitoring fuel consumption and emissions data, as fuel costs and emissions come under greater scrutiny.

The software house that supplies solutions for ship design and operations, said in a release: "With bunker fuel costs at sustained record levels and environmental legislation pertaining to emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), sulphur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide (NOx) now in force, many shipowners and management companies have come under more scrutiny."

"Although they have long been the industry standard, 24-hour reports taken at noon from vessels and relayed onshore are starting to have limited use for the owners and operators. Scrutiny over their fuel costs, environmental and safety credentials, more accuracy and real time data is being requested from multiple stakeholders, including charterers, insurers, regulators and financiers," said NAPA vice president Esa Henttinen.

"Moreover, from a safety perspective, noon reports represent an increasingly significant vulnerability as they cannot provide shipowners and managers with real time information, on safety or performance for example, that can be acted upon immediately," he said.

According to NAPA research, owners, managers and operators with large numbers of vessels under their control, are increasingly turning to electronic operational solutions that automatically communicate with shore-based offices every 10 minutes. This relays information about the vessel's fuel consumption, location, weather conditions and speed of the vessels.

The company said in a release the latest condition monitoring software has the potential to enable greater effectiveness in the legislative drive to reduce GHG emissions from shipping.

Papers were presented at both IMO MEPC meetings in 2012 on the subject of monitoring, while the European Commission has declared its intention to pursue mandatory monitoring, reporting and verification of vessel fuel consumption.

These systems also have significant benefits in measuring the effectiveness of any new technologies that have been fitted to the vessel. The Finnish shipping company Bore verified efficiency savings from NAPA for Operations SEEMP software and WE Tech Solutions' Variable Frequency Drive Shaft Generator (VFD SG) application on their ro-ro vessel M/V Bore Sea. The Speed Optimisation portion of the NAPA "Office" suite had saved Bore six per cent in fuel and the VFD SG provided 10 per cent savings.

Source : HKSG.