Cal Mac fuel savings

CalMac is leading UK ferry companies by introducing fuel monitoring technology across all vessels in its major fleet, making significant environmental and economic savings.

On top of reducing greenhouse gases, the system will save an estimated £450,000 per year.

State-of-the-art fuel monitoring system is being installed on the main Western isles ferries and other major Cal Mac vessels.

Eight of the 10 ships now have the system installed as part of what is known as Project Ecoship – the remaining two will be fitted during their next overhaul.

New technology will save ferries £450,000 in fuel

19 October 2015

Trials on the Barra and South Uist ferry, MV Clansman, showed 2% savings while the newer MV Finlaggan made 6.5%.

The smart technology system uses electronic touchscreen displays mounted on the bridge and in the engine room linked to sensors which monitor fuel flow into both engines.

The captain and chief engineer can monitor consumption in real time and, in due course, a database of fuel consumption can be matched up to parameters like weather, tidal and loading conditions, speed across the water, vessel adjustments and sea state to build a fuller picture.

Crucially, a drop in fuel usage performance can be identified as it occurs and steps taken to make immediate improvements.

The information collected during each and every sailing is relayed back to head office in a continuous feed.

Cross-referenced with prevailing conditions for each ship on the day, as well as the routes travelled, this data will rapidly build an accurate and useful picture of where further improvements can be made, as well as highlighting routes which could benefit from further scrutiny or a different approach.

It can also help in targeting work plans and priorities for annual refit periods, as much more data about the engine performance will have been gathered.