The second series of prototype trials of the Blue Visby Solution deliver significant savings of GHG emissions
The Blue Visby Solution project (BVS) has completed a series of Prototype Trials (PT), involving 16 vessels (LPG tankers) under charter by Marubeni Corporation, a Blue Visby Consortium member, across 40 voyages during a period of 3 months.
The BVS/Marubeni PT was designed to test the BVS technology acting as a decision-support tool in a First Come First Served (FCFS) operational environment. For the purposes of this PT, BVS technology provided the necessary optimisation information and recommendations for the operator to decide (based on its own operational and commercial considerations) whether or not to implement BVS, so as to reduce GHG emissions by mitigating the effects of Sail Fast Then Wait.
Due to the FCFS operational environment, a key parameter of the BVS/Marubeni PT involved monitoring the operational status of a total of some 919 vessels on a 24/7 basis, so as to ensure that the vessels participating in the PT would not be overtaken by non-participating vessels.
Approximately 31 actionable recommendations for vessels to reduce speed were issued, with projected fuel and GHG savings of about 29%, on average. This average figure was confirmed in the results from the vessels that followed the BVS recommendations. These savings were delivered through speed reductions from an average speed of 13.6 knots, down to an average speed of 10.6 knots.
The BVS/Marubeni PT follows on from the Prototype Trials that completed in Q2 2024 involving vessels (supramax bulkers) under charter by Blue Visby Consortium member CBH Group, which demonstrated fuel and GHG emissions savings of approximately 8-28%. The BVS/CBH Group Prototype Trial was designed to test the BVS in the context of optimising for the needs of a terminal stem, rather than in a FCFS environment, which was the case in the BVS/Marubeni PT.
Over a period of several years, and with support from 40+ members of the Blue Visby Consortium, which is co-ordinated by Helsinki-based software company NAPA Oy and London-based law firm Stephenson Harwood LLP, the project has progressed iteratively through several stages: from academic studies to proofs of concept, to hindcast simulations in real operating conditions, to virtual pilots with the use of digital twins and, finally, to Prototype Trials.
The accumulation of learnings and experience through studies and simulations has enabled the project to launch the final R&D phase in early 2024: a series of Prototype Trials involving actual voyages, organised together with Consortium members. Prototype Trials with the CBH Group and Marubeni Corporation have successfully concluded in the dry bulk and tanker segments, to be followed by more in 2025 with other Consortium members and in other market segments.
