Wärtsilä, technology group, MARIN, Netherlands based Maritime Research Institute, and Grimaldi, Italian ship owner, designed an Energy Saving Device (ESD), suitable for use by ships with Controllable Pitch Propellers (CPPs).
Specifically, Grimaldi’s ‘Grande Portogallo’ was trialled in sea and partners confirmed a 3.5% fuel efficiency gains.
Grimaldi reported
The initial noon reports suggest a 5 percent decrease in the fuel consumption, but in order to get a more realistic value we need to record a wider range of data.
The project was part of LeanShips project, under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework project for research and innovation, which aims to present the effectiveness and reliability of technologies that provide energy savings and emission reductions on a large scale.
Dario Bocchetti, Corporate Energy Saving Manager, Grimaldi Group commented
This represents a major breakthrough in making ships with controllable pitch propellers more efficient, and therefore less polluting. We have earlier established some energy savings for ships with controllable pitch propellers, and now this new technology has been extended in line with the objectives of the LeanShips project.
Meanwhile, Lars Anderson, Propulsion, Wärtsilä Marine, noted that Wärtsilä keeps on collaborating with strategic partners aiming to grater efficiencies and better environmental performance.
