Energy efficiency impacts

Industry leaders are focused on improving safety and energy efficiency, as well as minimising their impact on the environment.

Tighter maritime regulations are creating pressure for enhanced energy efficiency for both existing and new fleets, while investing in new solutions aims to improve long-term competitiveness.

“The development of new ship design is constantly moving forward. Upgrading the existing fleet and optimising its operations as well as maintenance propulsion and machinery are also areas in which energy efficiency can be improved,” explained Tomas Hakala, vice president of 4-stroke engine services, Wärtsilä.

He added: “For example, continuous performance monitoring can lead to substantial savings in energy consumption while optimised and smart maintenance planning makes maintenance costs more predictable.”

Wärtsilä advises that operators wishing to optimise its fleets should apply a holistic strategy and implement a comprehensive lifecycle solution. This would take into consideration the vessel’s entire journey from business planning to scrapping and recycling.

Improvements can therefore be made through assessing a specific area of the vessel’s lifecycle and applying a customised solution to it.

The use of data and analytics provide new opportunities for energy efficiency improvements.

Maarten van der Klip, general manager of project sales and development at Wärtsilä, said: “Digital technologies make it possible for service providers to collect and analyse data from an installation and remotely monitor its performance.”

“The technical knowledge of maintenance service providers is becoming critical to supplement the ship crew’s competence.”

Wärtsilä introduced the Wärtsilä Lifecycle solutions offering which consists of three concepts that combine digital innovations and advanced data analytics with a holistic approach.