Technology company Miros and BW Group have developed what they describe as a “game-changing” vessel performance platform by integrating real-time wave, weather and speed through water information.
Miros Mocean is a joint venture performance platform which aims to remove uncertainty and inaccuracy in vessel efficiency improvement efforts by accounting for wave and weather conditions in performance calculations. BW Group expects the more accurate performance data will enable it to better assess the impact of efficiency improvement technologies and tighten its contract terms.
“To be able to understand if an investment is truly optimising the performance of your vessel, you need to account for weather,” said Christian Bonfils, Managing Director, BW Dry Cargo. “The technology Miros Mocean… gives access to accurate speed through water and weather data at the precise ship location and combined with fuel flow and main engine power meters we can quantify fuel savings of up to 10% on a single voyage. It has also helped to change the legal contracts to actual performance instead of warranties, setting the standard for the future of this industry.”
By combining the fuel consumption, main engine power and environmental data, Miros Mocean aims to assist owners and operators in making operational decisions to save fuel, thus cutting GHG emissions. Data from the platform could also offer transparency in discussions between charterers, owners and authorities, said Bonfils.
BW Group said that data such as speed through water, wave height and ocean currents had been the “missing link” in its efforts to find the perfect vessel optimisation solution for its fleets.
“We have seen that making investments in different energy devices has been rather difficult because the actual performance of these devices has not yet been able to be measured in real-time, it’s all based on tank tests or ship trials. Here at Miros Mocean we can assess the actual performance of these different devices,” said Bonfils.
Miros is a technology company which uses sensors and x-band navigation radar technology to measure waves and ocean currents; the company has worked with BW Group in co-operative development on Miros Mocean for over a year. Miros sees the platform as a means of creating a level playing field for shipping companies by removing the weather factor by normalising performance data.
BW Group is set to deploy the technology on 10 of its vessels across multiple segments including tankers, bulk carriers, LPG and LNG carriers.
Bonfils expects the benefits of the platform to increase in significance over time: “We are being measured, and going forward we will be measured much more on our performance but especially on our emisisons. We need to make sure that whatever investment we do it is measured correctly… Now we can measure and be measured.”
Source: Seatrade Maritime
