Royal Arctic Line saves fuel with intelligent IoT technology
An investment in Frugal Propulsion on the container ship Malik Arctica has generated such good results that Royal Arctic Line intend to install the system on more ships in the fleet, the company said in its release.
With a new patented and class-approved on-top system for intelligent engine management, Frugal Technologies has an attractive offer for the shipping industry: achieve a guaranteed 10% reduction in the ship’s fuel consumption with a payback period less than 18 months.
The solution, Frugal Propulsion, has so far been installed and tested on four cargo ships at different shipping companies, and the results are compelling. The average saving in fuel consumption after a run-in period is 10-15%, which for many feeder ships, ro/ro vessels, chemical tankers and ferries will correspond to 2-4 tonnes of fuel per day.
At the end of 2019, Royal Arctic Line installed Frugal Propulsion onboard the three-year-old ice class container vessel Malik Arctica, and they have seen a significant improvement in the ship’s performance on the long voyages between Denmark and Greenland.
Frugal Propulsion was installed within a few days while Malik Arctica was in port. Variable frequency drives was subsequently installed during docking, and allows the ship to sail with variable revolutions on the main engine, thereby achieving a further reduction in fuel consumption.
Frugal Propulsion is an intelligent learning-control system that integrates with the ship’s existing propulsion control system (PCS). Using sensors, Big Data and advanced algorithms, the system ensures that the machine is constantly optimised for the draught, load, waves and wind.
According to Peter Hauschildt, Naval Architect and CEO of Frugal Technologies, interest in Frugal Propulsion is growing because fuel is by far the largest ongoing expense on cargo ships. He sees the successful collaboration with Royal Arctic Line as a big step towards a breakthrough for the Danish company.
Frugal Propulsion hits the market at a time when efficiency is in great demand as the shipping industry strives to achieve its goal of a 70% CO2 reduction per shipped tonne by 2050. A report by The International Maritime Organization (IMO) published in August 2020 shows that the shipping industry’s total greenhouse gas emissions increased by 9.6% from 2012 to 2018. One of the reasons is that the industry’s improvements in carbon intensity have not been sufficient to keep up with the growth in world trade. Frugal Propulsion therefore offers itself as a technology that can immediately help to push development in the right direction.
