Norwegian company Manta Marine Technologies (MMT), the former Yara Marine, says it has unlocked further fuel and emissions savings from its FuelOpt system with the addition of a trim optimisation advisory system known as TrimSense.
Available as a simple added feature to existing FuelOpt installations, TrimSense is said to have the potential to deliver fuel savings of 1% – 4%. TrimSense comes with the additional benefit of no commercial downtime during installations. The system integrates easily to assist with fuel and emissions reporting, and can be deployed alongside AI technologies for calculating operational voyage parameters.
Richard Engelhart Bjercke, MMT CCO said: “Having recently celebrated over 400 sales of FuelOpt, MMT is proud to bring greater cost savings, emissions reduction and operational optimisation to its customers with TrimSense. We continue to develop and innovate across our suite of optimisation solutions, enabling ship owners and operators to provide support to their crews while also reaping the commercial and regulatory compliance benefits of lower fuel costs and reduced carbon emissions.”
TrimSense collects real-time data from high-frequency inclination sensors, using a processing algorithm to display constant measurements of trim – the difference between the forward and aft draught of a vessel. Changes in trim affect vessel performance, and by optimising trim accounting for draught and vessel speed, propulsion power requirements can be lowered and fuel saved.
The system is set up with defined optimal trim values which can be determined by towing tank tests, historical data, or computational fluid dynamics. Where existing values are not available, MMT can assist in providing optimal trim values to help shipowners access the benefits of TrimSense. The FuelOpt bridge display panel offers visual feedback on trim performance, delivering decision-making support to the crew and enabling vessel operation according to best practices. Data from TrimSense is made available to other systems such as MMT’s Fleet Analytics performance management and reporting tool.
Bjercke added: “Our ongoing development ensures crews will continue to have the latest technology to maximise the performance of their vessels, while also ensuring safety. As the prices of traditional and low carbon fuels increase, investments in operational efficiency will continue to bring returns, regardless of which fuel is in the ship’s tanks.”
Image: FuelOpt bridge panel (Manta Marine Technologies)
