Automation and fuel saving for Ro-Ro ferry

The 187m Fionia Sea is twin-propelled RoRo ferry, owned by Leomar RoRo and managed by AdMare Ship Management. travels between the UK and the Netherlands.

It is the third ferry after Corona Sea and Hafnia Sea to be upgraded with Anschütz’s NautoPilot 5400 NX autopilot, which the company says provides a range of fuel-saving functions.

These include an ECO mode and a course control mode, both of which reduce the frequency and amplitude of rudder movements, thereby reducing fuel consumption. To make the current steering performance and the quality of the parameter settings transparent, the autopilot features a graphical display of a course and rudder plot, allowing the operator to optimise the settings at any time.

“We have an ambitious strategy to increase efficiency and reduce emissions on our vessels”, said Carl-Johan Eriksson, Safety and Sustainability manager at AdMare Ship Management. “The Anschütz autopilots are part of our solution and have already proven their efficient steering performance on our vessels.”

Contributing to reduced fuel consumption on twin rudder vessels like Fionia Sea is the toe angle function, which allows the autopilot to control the individual rudder angles, reducing the drag caused by the wake fields of the two rudders.

Anschütz says computational fluid dynamics analysis, fuel tank tests and on-board investigations have shown fuel savings of up to 5% when the rudder angles were set efficiently.

The refit took place during the five-year renewal survey at a shipyard in Poland with the support of Anschütz’s long-standing partner Syberg Sweden.

Anschütz also makes navigation, bridge and mission systems for commercial shipping, offshore and research vessels, workboats, mega yachts, coast guard and naval vessels and submarines.