DNV GL fuel tool taps VPS database

The tool will enable a ‘systematic assessment of the impact of fuel quality on vessel performance’ for the first time ever, according to the partners. It will also allow shipping companies to compare the quality of their bunkers with the world fleet average by vessel size and time period, and identify quality bunker locations and suppliers.

Gerard Rohaan, CEO of VPS, said: “We have the world’s largest fuel sampling database – over two million tested samples. By extracting valuable information from this extensive database with state-of-the-art analytical tools, we help our customers get the best value from their bunker purchases through fast, accurate performance monitoring and decision making.”

The company confirmed to The Motorship that the service will include residual and distillate fuels, including new ECA compliant or ‘hybrid’ fuels. It does not yet include less mainstream fuels such as LNG.

Fuel quality is calculated with reference to four major benchmarks: technical quality (meeting the ISO 8217 standard), financial quality (energy and water content), statutory compliance, and reporting quality (deviation from delivery note specifications). The benchmarks allow ship operators to assess global ports and suppliers on a common scale.

As an example of the information that shipowners can benefit from in Veritas Petroleum Services’ database, the company cites the difference in average energy content of RMG 380 delivered in the Baltic ECA region during calendar 2015. Latvia had the highest average energy content with 41.79mj/kg, while Lithuania had the lowest average energy content at 40.421 mj/kg. While the difference may not seem large, the fuel in Latvia has 3% more energy content than Lithuania and vessels bunkering this fuel would be expected to show better energy efficiency.

The database can also identify differences on a port-by-port base. For example, in Malaysia last year there was a range of 1.7% in the average energy density of distillate fuel delivered.

Dr Torsten Büssow, head of fleet performance management, DNV GL, added: “For the first time, shipping companies can now easily differentiate between the efficiency loss due to fuel quality, voyage performance, and hull, propeller, engine and systems degradation.”