Syroco, a Climate Tech start-up that supports the energy transition of maritime transport, has deployed its Syroco platform onboard the ‘MN Pelican’ ro-ro, owned by Sogestran subsidiary Compagnie Maritime Nantaise, and chartered to Brittany Ferries.
This deployment is part of a global approach which includes the optimisation of the routing and efficiency of the vessel alongside better speed management and improvement of hull performance, with the aim of cutting fuel consumption and hence emissions.
The 155m MN Pelican operates between Poole (UK) and Bilbao (Spain), crossing the Bay of Biscay where changing – and sometimes extreme – wind and cross swell conditions, as well as currents, can affect operations and impact performance of the vessel. Syroco employs a digital twin which incorporates specific navigation constraints leveraging precise weather and sea data, to calculate an optimised routing at any time. The proposed route, updated as often as necessary, takes into account operating constraints including arrival time and sea conditions that allow safe navigation.
Edouard Leveau, MN Technical Director, said: “The freighter service operated by MN Pelican generates specific operational constraints. In particular, the cross swells frequently encountered in the Bay of Biscay require the routes to be adapted to avoid rolling which could damage the trailers being transported. Syroco’s digital twin is able to incorporate these restrictions into its routing algorithms in order to deliver relevant recommendations to the crew.”
After six months of improvement process, the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of the MN Pelican were reduced by 10.8% compared to the same periods in previous years. Furthermore, projected over a full year, the CII of the vessel has improved significantly and changed to a higher category.
Jérôme Navarro, GM of MN said: “Our Company is innovative, and committed to the decarbonisation of maritime transport. The deployment of Syroco clearly fits into this framework. It allows us to provide our crews with latest generation routing and trip optimisation, which precisely evaluates the efficiency gains. Both the reduction in consumption already measured and the improvement of the CII index provide a valuable validation of the relevance of our approach.”
Alex Caizergues, President and co-founder, Syroco, added: “We are pleased that Compagnie Maritime Nantaise has chosen to work with Syroco to support the decarbonisation of its operations. This deployment made it possible to confirm the flexibility of the solution and its adaptability to specific operational constraints.”
Image: ‘MN Pelican’ (credit: Compagnie Maritime Nantaise)
