Swedish marine tech company, Qtagg is releasing an update to its voyage optimisation system EcoPilot, by adding a CII mode.
By using the CII mode, a ship will arrive at her destination with a predetermined CII rating.
EcoPilot is already an established solution, that saves fuel, decreases emissions and optimises propulsion efficiency on ropaxes and other ships, the company claimed.
Utilising the just-in-time arrival method, proven fuel savings are about 7%. By using interactive on the time of arrival, it is possible to achieve an additional 20%. This means better CII rating and a predictable result for each voyage.
This will benefit shipowners and operators who want to control CII ratings of their ships, while not overcompensating by slowing down too much.
“They will be able to choose a CII value for every voyage and reliably target the outcome,” explained Tomas Lindqvist, Qtagg CEO.
“Operators will be able to better maintain their yearly revenue per ship and be in full control of fleet performance.”
EcoPilot has been operating for more than 10 years offering different operational modes – arrival time, fixed ship speed, lowest fuel consumption, or desired CII value.
As the whole optimisation algorithms were already in place, the addition of a CII mode was mainly about implementing another targeting model.
The propulsion plan is calculated based on the desired outcome and acknowledged by the Master.
EcoPilot is connected to the governors and pitch controller for automatic execution of the plan, which is recalculated continuously, based on updated weather reports and the ship’s progress.
Changes in schedule can be sent directly to the system from onshore fleet operations centres and once acknowledged by the bridge, the propulsion plan is optimised and updated.
It is impossible to reach the same result trying to manually follow advice on ship speed, warned Lindqvist. It is the integrated propulsion power control system that provides fuel savings, and predictable arrival times and CII values – simultaneously.
Also, this is not a tool for simulations – it is an actual working control system, he stressed.
