The ropax sector has driven Lean Marine’s increase in sales of its proprietary FuelOpt system last year.
Sales surpassed those achieved in previous years, indicating a sharp uptake in demand for the propulsion optimization technology based on repeat orders and new customers, the company said.
Since the launch of FuelOpt, a hardware system that automatically and directly optimises a vessel’s propulsion system based on commands from the bridge, more than 175 individual systems have been contracted for more than 40 different shipowners.
A strong final quarter of 2019 brought total sales to 59 systems, representing over a third of all systems sold since the technology’s launch in 2014.
By the end of 2019, FuelOpt™ was contracted for over 20 ropaxs, with installations undertaken on the world’s two largest ropaxes- Color Lines’ ‘Color Fantasy’ and ‘Color Magic’.
Companies including Stena Line, Viking Line and Bohai are also investing in the technology as an effective fuel saving solution that achieves actual CO2 emission reductions partly in response to demand from authorities and passengers.
Mikael Laurin, Lean Marine CEO and former CEO of shipowning company Laurin Maritime, said: “The success of the FuelOpt system comes from its ability to deliver direct and tangible results, which explains why new orders continue to come in and why existing customers adopt fleet-wide installation. With FuelOpt and Fleet Analytics, we offer shipowners the ability to obtain knowledge and continuously improve operational efficiency on vessel and fleet level for competitive and sustainable business.”
FuelOpt achieves real time fuel savings by controlling a vessel’s propulsion and making sure that the propulsive power is optimised automatically based on the command set on power or fuel consumption and/or speed from the bridge. This removes costly variations in speed and power caused by human operational factors, allowing the vessel to achieve optimal fuel consumption at every given point throughout a voyage, the company claimed.
For vessels with controllable pitch propellers, FuelOpt acts as a dynamic tuning system for the propulsion machinery to ensure the engine and propeller operate at optimal conditions.
In addition to FuelOpt, Lean Marine also offers the smart fleet monitoring software Fleet Analytics, which turns vessel data into knowledge, empowering organisations to be ‘lean’ and take fact-based decisions for more efficient vessel operation.
By offering automatic environmental and voyage reports, Fleet Analytics can help to reduce reporting workload on-board. The software system’s performance management features, with aggregated fleet views and status information, also allow onshore personnel to gain insight about the operational performance.
