To assess the costs and speed of a maritime route, and then choose the correct way to operate this route, the SYNCHRO-NET project brought together a consortium of actors from the maritime sector. The expertise of each partner is integrated in a software solution called Maritime Module.
Fuel consumption is an important part of the operating costs, and adopting a slow-steaming strategy allows to decrease fuel expenses.
On the other hand, the fixed operating costs such as insurance, crew salaries, maintenance and amortization of capital expenditures increase with the duration of the trip. To find the best trade-off between fuel consumption vs. fixed costs i.e. to move from slow steaming to “smart” steaming, Kongsberg Maritime is developing a “real-time speed pilot” that computes the optimal speed based on ship speed, ETA, time-window at each waypoint along the route and rates. As this module works in real-time, it also allows if there is a change at berthing time during the trip to “smartly” re-route the ship, either to speed up to catch the next slot, or to slow down to catch the following one. The solution is implemented as a web service and is accessible via internet.
Source: Synchronet Staff
