Co-owned by Volvo Penta and Qamcom, Swedish company Cetasol has released a new marine sustainability digital analytics platform that is helping to make a passenger ferry in Sweden more sustainable. The platform, called iHelm, works to reduce fuel consumption and lower the ferry’s emission levels by providing the captain with relevant information and actionable insights to achieve optimal operation.
“Getting up to our optimal speed at 8kts is easy, but then going up to 9kts is almost double the fuel consumption,” commented Peter Jörnestrand, skipper of the Burö passenger ferry. “A couple of knots above that, and it increases four-fold. These things become very evident when you see them on the display like this. Now we consume less than half the fuel we did before we started using the iHelm.”
The iHelm platform also helps when teaching new crew members to sail more efficiently.
“They follow alongside me or another experienced captain, and we basically tell them to drive as the system suggests,” said Jörnestrand. “They learn an economical way of driving, right from the beginning.”
Operational manager at Öckerö Båttrafik, Camilla Rydenskog, said, “Our challenge is keeping the fuel consumption down, without jeopardizing the service level. The people who live out here depend heavily on us. We can’t afford long stops in our operation.
“Now that we have the iHelm from Cetasol, I get much more detailed statistics about our fuel use and emissions. I have also noticed how the captains have started to compete internally to reduce fuel use. This is also positive because smoother driving means less wear and tear on the vessel. We can see that the engine is in good shape when we do our regular service. And on top of this we arrive at the docks at precisely the right time.”
The iHelm is Cetasol’s first solution aimed at the marine sustainability market.
