Danish chemical tanker firm MOL Nordic Tankers has extended the trial of Bunker Metric’s fuel management and planning tool, which was being piloted on five of its vessels from December.
The BunkerPlanner tool allows ship owners and fuel buyers to modernise their fuel procurement strategy on a vessel-by-vessel basis.
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BunkerPlanner enables operators to make the best decisions on the optimal product grade, time and location to lift bunkers and save fuel bills by up to 4%.
The software analyses various factors that impact bunkering decisions, including fuel price forecasts, trade patterns and routes, vessel speed, and fuel consumption.
It also considers product specifications, time spent in Emission Control Areas (ECAs), sailing margins, and tank sizes, as well as costs related to deviations, port calls and barges.
BunkerPlanner leverages proprietary simulation and optimisation algorithms, while it provides an optimal bunkering plan for every MOL Nordic Tankers’ vessel. It clearly indicates the amount of each fuel type to be purchased at specific port calls.
20|20 Marine Energy senior associate Per Funch Nielsen said that the extended live trial of BunkerPlanner onto the whole fleet of MOL Nordic Tankers demonstrates the significant impact of using the solution to decrease annual fuel expenses and help ship owners manage the challenges of transitioning into a new world in 2020.
Neilsen added: “The reality is that many ship owners and operators will struggle with the rising operational costs as well as new bunkering patterns driven by price changes and the local availability of products once the global sulphur cap is implemented.
“While there is an increasing uptake in a number of proven clean technologies that reduce fuel consumption, for the majority, the continued lack of liquidity in the market makes the investment hard to justify.”
A web interface is currently being developed for MOL Nordic Tankers. The interface will be easy to integrate into MOL Nordic Tankers’ other ship management and procurement systems to ensure its full optimisation.
