Cargo heating management fuel savings

05 Nov 2010

Two years after Teekay entered into a

contract with Blue Water to provide cargo
heating management services onboard its
vessels, its fleet has registered fuel savings
in excess of 25% on an average from over 225
voyages.
The cargo heating management services were
deployed onboard its vessels as part of Teekay’s
efforts towards fuel savings and operational
optimization. The service was
conceptualized by the India-based marine
consultancy firm, Blue Water Trade Winds and
was introduced onboard the tanker vessels under
a systematic plan and consistently observed and A Teekay Aframax tanker ‘Australian Spirit’
modified to maximize savings during cargo heating
operations.The initial research on developing the system began a few years ago when a team of
mariners led by Roy Choudhury, Teekay vessel manager, and research analysts teamed up to study
the potential savings in cargo heating operations. Statistical records of heating voyages for over a
decade were accumulated from various sources and analyzed against variables.

The system is based on specially designed software that derives inferences from complex
thermodynamic calculations and statistical data analysis to generate a virtual ship and a specific
virtual voyage. A dedicated heating project team then devises a cargo heating plan for a voyage
depicting the estimated cargo temperature drop, optimum heating schedules, boiler loads and fuel
consumption. Although there is immense research put into developing each cargo heating plan,
analysts at Blue Water believe that the major share of the success so far lies with the vessel staff who
ensured a proper deployment of the plan onboard and its monitoring.

Victor Armstrong, manager, vessel optimization at Teekay Marine Services said that Teekay has a
responsibility to consistently contribute towards global sustainable development -financially, socially
and economically.

He said with an average of over 20,000 tonnes of fuel oil consumed in cargo heating operations in
any year, the cargo heating management service was developed as a tool to optimize the various
processes involved by comprehensive estimation, planning and monitoring. The program was
launched onboard four Teekay vessels as a pilot project in the last quarter of 2008 before rolling out
to the entire conventional tanker fleet.

Anurag Datta, technical manager of Blue Water, said that with an exhaustive database already in
place his team was now working towards developing a new concept of OCT (optimum cargo
temperature) for different cargo grades that would help charterers and ship operators decide the
optimum safe cargo temperature over the traditional charter-party cargo temperatures that are mostly
being followed today. Datta further said that time and again it has been observed that the charter
party unnecessarily requires the cargo to be maintained at higher temperatures leading to excessive
fuel oil consumption. The OCT would be the minimum safe cargo temperature at which the cargo can
be maintained during transit, ensuring that the quality of the cargo parcel is strictly maintained.

Blue Water proposes to work with oil majors and research institutes to further develop and validate
the exhaustive database of OCT for different cargo grades being transported worldwide. The
development of this new concept is targeted to reduce overall fuel oil consumption in cargo heating
operations and also to reduce harmful emissions from long running hours of the vessel’s boiler during
these operations. (Source: The Motor Ship-News)

Ref: http://www.motorship.com/news101/cargo-heating-management-fuel-savings