Tug fleet finds fuel economy savings

Diesel engine technology specialist Royston Limited has begun fitting its money saving Enginei systems to a further 14 Svitzer tugs following the success of a first phase of 15 installations. Svitzer has been making significant savings in fuel costs for the past year by monitoring the vessels equipped with Enginei systems. The company has found that, on average, its tugs have been achieving 20% savings in fuel consumption and it is now extending this benefit more widely.

The Royston Enginei system can be applied to any diesel powered vessel and works by accurately measuring fuel flow and matching the data with its GPS location. This makes it possible for the operator to continuously calculate a vessel’s ‘miles per gallon’ and to correlate the information with its activity and speed.

Enginei is basically a measurement system that does not impose itself upon the vessel’s control systems in any way. However, by providing a simple bridge display it enables masters to be continuously aware of their fuel consumption. They are then able to use their own judgment in setting their priorities and achieve an optimum balance between their speed and fuel consumed.

The benefits of the Enginei system are also available to operations managers ashore who are provided with a more sophisticated display that makes it easier to deploy vessels in a timely and cost effective way. The data that is being used on the vessel and its GPS location is also relayed ashore where a satellite map display provides Svitzer’s managers with a real-time presentation of each tug’s fuel consumption. Managers benefit from a graphic overlay that shows the amount of fuel being consumed by the tug at any point along its track. This enables them to deploy their vessels more efficiently and to avoid issuing instructions that lead to unnecessary fuel consumption.

Royston and Svitzer will be presenting the story of their successful project at the Tugnology conference in Antwerp on 17 and 18 May. Delegates will be given a detailed explanation of how the data provided by the Enginei fuel monitoring system has created an operating culture that is now in tune with the costs and demands of modern ship operations. The Svitzer experience is now seen to be encouraging other ship operators to defend their businesses against ever- increasing fuel costs while also addressing the industry’s environmental obligations.