German owner fitting dynamic trimming system on its ships

DTA helps the ships’ officers optimize trim at all times, minimizing water resistance, decreasing fuel consumption, and reducing emissions. By bringing real-time data of the vessel attitude to ships’ officers in an easy-to-read graphic form, the Eniram DTA facilitates faster and better informed decision-making and allows timely action in changing circumstances.

“DTA gives us a relatively simple way to reduce fuel consumption across Hamburg Süd’s fleet of vessels and reduce the impact on the environment,” said Fred Deichmann, managing director, Columbus Shipmanagement. “When the solution is installed on the first batch of twelve vessels, we expect to make savings of over $4 million in the first year.”

The decision was preceded by an intensive trial period during which real savings of 3-5% on fuel were demonstrated with Aliança Maua, a 5,560 TEU container ship measuring 272m by 40m. Based on the trial an annual reduction in costs of $375,000 per vessel can be achieved by actively using Eniram DTA.

“We expect to deliver substantial savings in fuel and environment based on the Aliança Maua,” said Philip Padfield, ceo, Eniram Group. “Hamburg Süd is one of the longest established providers of ocean-going transportation and has shown real commitment to our future-driven technologies. We are delighted to extend the savings fleet-wide with further installations of DTA.”

At the core of DTA is a multidimensional analysis model, which continuously calculates the key forces affecting the vessel attitude. DTA dynamically retrieves and analyses data of the prevailing trim, propulsion power and tank operations. The system combines the data with current conditions, such as waves, wind and speed, and determines the optimal trim for each situation. In fleet-wide use, the system can be extended to provide shipping companies with aggregated vessel performance data for efficient fleet management.

Eniram’s decision support systems are designed by a team of marine system experts, software architects, programmers, naval architects and captains creating a unique combination of expertise.