Manta Marine Technologies (MMT) has won a new contract to supply and install its automated propulsion optimization system FuelOpt across nine vessels in chemical tanker operator Chemship‘s fleet.
The deal is the product of a successful trial where FuelOpt was installed on Chemsipâs Chemical Challenger vessel to optimize performance of the main engine and section wings.
As part of the deal, Chemship will also benefit from MMTâs performance monitoring, reporting and benchmarking tool, FleetAnalytics.
Commenting on the deal, Richard Engelhart Bjercke, chief commercial officer at Manta Marine Technologies, said, âWe are proud to partner with a forward-thinking operator like Chemship as they lead the way in sustainable chemical transportation. This contract underscores the critical nature of propulsion control in achieving net-zero targets with FuelOpt and Fleet Analytics, offering guaranteed performance improvements by seamlessly integrating human expertise with automated decision-making.â
This deal marks a commitment by Chemship to optimize its fleet operations to reduce fuel expenditure and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. FuelOpt automatically adjusts a vesselâs propulsion in real time, enhancing operational performance and freeing up crew to focus on other essential tasks, rather than having to focus on making multiple manual propulsion adjustments.
FuelOpt is fuel-agnostic, working with conventional or alternative fuels and alongside hybrid propulsion solutions.
The system dynamically adjusts propulsion based on predefined operational needs, such as maintaining a target speed or specific fuel consumption limit. Within these pre-defined parameters, the system automatically ensures that the vessel always operates at the most efficient propulsion power output which, MMT says, results in efficiency gains regardless of external factors like weather, and the simplification of carbon emission reporting.
When FuelOpt is paired with wind-assisted propulsion (WAP) systems, like on Chemical Challenger, it transforms the wind-gained thrust into fuel savings, through automated adjustments of the vesselâs engine propulsion, offering precision beyond what can be achieved manually.
Fleet Analytics is a real-time, cloud-based, vessel performance monitoring system that collects and analyzes high-frequency data from multiple onboard sources. It provides shipowners and operators with actionable insights and enables them to benchmark performance of single vessels or their whole fleet.
The solution enables fact-based decision-making, reduces administrative workload, and integrates with other technologies like FuelOpt and wind-assisted propulsion to enhance efficiency and sustainability across fleets. It comes with a timeline-based reporting feature, aligned with EU-MRV, EU-ETS, FuelEU Maritime, IMO-DCS and CII.
Michiel Marelis, operations director, Chemship, commented, “After decades of relying on manually entered, error-prone consumption figures, we finally have everything digitally available on a single platform. This enables us to eliminate all variables and accurately measure the efficiency of our sustainable investments. We now have full control over our fuel consumption and are achieving optimal savings from our Ventofoils, thanks to the Manta Marine Technologies FuelOpt package.”
Chemship operates a fleet of stainless steel chemical tankers designed to transport a wide variety of liquid bulk materials, including specialized chemicals, vegetable oils, acids and clean petroleum products.
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