Last month, Stena Line introduced the AI assistant Stena Fuel Pilot on two more Stena Line vessels – Stena Flavia and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (pictured).
To date, seven Stena Line vessels now operate with AI assistance, with the aim to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 5%.
Stena Fuel Pilot started as a pilot study on ‘Stena Scandinavica’ on the Gothenburg/Kiel route in 2018 to investigate and explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to support the Masters and crews on board to save fuel and reduce CO2 emissions.
AI assistant, now called Stena Fuel Pilot, combines AI, nautical expertise, and data, such as current, waves, depth, wind, as well as the vessel characteristics and the route timetable.
The conservative fuel saving is 2% and the potential is more than 5%, Stena claimed. Today, seven Stena Line vessels in Scandinavia, Germany and the Baltic Sea now operate with AI assistance and the company plans for a fleet-wide rollout.
The latest two to be fitted with AI assistant were ‘Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’ on the Trelleborg/Rostock route and Stena Flavia, currently operating between Nynäshamn and Ventspils.
“We are working hard to reduce our fuel consumption and emissions, while at the same time exploring tomorrow’s fuels and technologies. The main drivers behind the reduction of emissions in 2020 are that we have introduced three new energy-efficient vessels, on the Irish Sea.
“We have also introduced renewable shore electricity during port calls in Kiel and in total seven ships in the fleet have been equipped with the AI assistant Stena Fuel Pilot to support our captains in operating the vessels in the most energy-efficient way,” explained Erik Lewenhaupt, Stena Line’s Group Head of Sustainability.
Last year, Stena Line continued to reduce its total CO2 emissions and claimed to be 10 years ahead of the IMO international shipping emission reduction targets.
The use of AI on board is one of the four key areas Stena Line has identified to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30% by 2030, to achieve the target to become completely fossil-free by 2050.
The other key areas are electrification of the port and vessel operations, increase the use of alternative fuels, including methanol and hydrogen, as well as modernising the existing fleet and the introduction of new efficient vessels such as the five E-Flexer vessels being introduced between 2020/2022.
In another move, Stena and Ventspils Port Companies have signed a Letter of Intent to explore the potential of Stena managing the terminals and railway companies on behalf of Ventspils Port Companies.
“Stena Rederi operates several European ports and understands the strategic importance and potential of such infrastructure. We are now investigating the opportunities to contribute to increasing port activities and cargo through-put in the port of Ventspils, “ explained Carl-Johan Hagman, Stena Rederi CEO.
“We believe that Stena is the right partner to further develop and strengthen the Ventspils Port and to generally improve logistics in Latvia. We hope that we will be able to conclude a firm agreement with Stena,” added Dr Rudolf Meroni, Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of the Ventspils Port Companies.
