Swedish voyage optimisation delivers 7% fuel savings for Tallink cruise vessel

As part of its ongoing programme to increase fuel efficiency, Tallink Grupp installed Qtagg’s EcoPilot system on the 2,500 passenger capacity M/S Isabelle. EcoPilot is a voyage optimization tool incorporating autonomous speed and power control as well as weather routing.

The solution was operated on over 50 round trips in summer 2020 for the twin CP propeller cruise ferry. The vessel mostly operates daily sailings between Stockholm, Sweden and Riga, Latvia.

The installation applied EcoPilot’s autonomous speed and power control as well as weather routing to round trips, allowing the results to be directly verified against alternate round trips when the solution was not activated. The speed profile and voyage optimisation reduced the fuel consumption by 7%. Qtagg claims that EcoPilot is also distinguished by its ability to manage the entire voyage, calculating an optimum power plan and executing it automatically, with little or no manual intervention.

The system offers route planning/optimisation and fuel efficiency monitoring. With intuitive quick steps, the user can plan and optimise the route in seconds. Follow-up and re-planning is done directly in the chart with clear information on the ship’s resulting performance and progress.

“After a period of familiarisation, EcoPilot is now in full use by Isabelle’s deck and engine officers. The system is quite new, and some initial challenges were solved with support from the Qtagg specialists. Once the deck officers fully understood the benefits and limitations of the system and operated the vessel based on that knowledge, we achieved the best fuel savings,” said Indrek Lepp, the Master of the Isabelle.

Advanced technical solution

EcoPilot connects the entire propulsion chain, so that normally independent systems work together to optimise the ship’s performance.

The system reads data from sensors monitoring more than 60 parameters in real time, including engine performance, propeller performance, rudder lift and drag forces, ship motion and navigational information. Data from previous voyages together with weather and sea forecasts are used to minimize the total fuel consumption for each voyage. During the voyage, the system automatically adapts to changing operational requirements, operator input, sea, and ship conditions, continuously using all available information to ensure on-time arrival.

Tarvi-Carlos Tuulik, CEO of Ship Management at Tallink Grupp said “Tallink is continuously evaluating innovative technologies to improve our operations. We invest in collaboration with research institutions and encourage all crew of Tallink ships to introduce innovations that bring energy, fuel, and water savings.”

“We saw EcoPilot as a tool to learn more about the ship’s efficiency and realised the system was worth testing. The 7% reduction in fuel consumption and emissions on M/S Isabelle is a great achievement. But the crew’s involvement is crucial, and this result is also thanks to our open-minded users, professional navigators, and engineers onboard.”

Tallink is considering implementing EcoPilot on other vessels, Tuulik concluded.