Solstad PSV saves 29% fuel on a long transit
Written by Nick Blenkey
L to R: Captain Arnt Olav Skarstein, holding the plaque award received from VPS Decarbonization, and Marius Moum, Linda Stuberg and Taras Buha from VPS
Norway’s Solstad Offshore reports that its PSV Normand Leader and its captain, Arnt Olav Skarstein, have received an award from VPS Decarbonization for their impressive fuel savings during a transit from Australia.
Solstad long been exploring digital solutions for fuel consumption. It has now been using the MARESS digital management system from VPS to harvest fuel and emission data for 6 years.
MARESS is a cloud-based digital management system for data-driven fleet energy management. It combines available data from vessels with other relevant data sets to provide insight on how to reduce fuel and emissions.
“It is time we make additional use of the data and step up the efficiency challenge because we believe through dedication and proper insight a vessel’s fuel savings can be surprisingly high during a long transit,” says Svein Erik Isaksen, sustainability advisor at Solstad.
“Over the last weeks, we have worked with our partner VPS Decarbonization to use data analytics to save as much fuel and emissions as possible during a vessel’s long transit,” he says. “The crew onboard Normand Leader was able to save an incredible 29% of emissions and fuel consumption compared to a normal transit and only minor vessel speed alternations. The key to success was excellent seamanship plus data analytics. Historical data was used to determine optimal transit speed, and the crew used several measures to reduce fuel consumption, including optimization of trim and draft, autopilot settings, stopping unnecessary auxiliary equipment, and reducing the number of engines adequately to the sea conditions. Prior to commencing the transit, hull optimization was performed and making sure vessel drag was reduced to a minimum. To create crew engagement, we used the VPS software MARESS where users can define the transit goals and continuously follow the performance. Hats off to the amazing results achieved by the crew!”
“Projects like this will help us to be better and more efficient,” says Isaksen. “It is a win win situation for Solstad, the environment and our clients. Initiatives and findings will ultimately be digitized in the MARESS software, which will benefit all users.”
