Boluda Towage Europe has cut its fuel consumption and CO2 emissions using innovative technology.
In 2020, Boluda Towage Europe fitted out its Union Koala tug with C-Sense’s Eco Pilot fuel consumption monitoring system and one year on has cut Union Koala’s fuel consumption by 10% and CO2 emissions by 40t a month.
Stijn Van Beneden, fleet manager at Boluda Towage Europe, said: “We’ve noticed an immediate drop in the consumption in the first month that the ECO Pilot was active, and the consumption figures were visible for the crew. This immediate reduction has become our average constant during the following months. After one year using Eco-Pilot, we calculated that Return on Investment, including procurement and installation, has been reached in less than 6 months.”
What is the Eco-Pilot?
The Eco-Pilot measures and quantifies fuel usage onboard any kind of vessel. A network of sensors precisely measures the flow of fuel to the engine, delivering the data to the bridge fuel monitor, and storing a more extensive suite of data detailing fuel consumption alongside engine revolutions and other parameters.
Savings come from the tugmaster having a constantly updated fuel consumption readout, delivering real-time data that provides the bridge team with the perfect tool to manage operations as efficiently as possible. This identifies vessel handling characteristics and situations that result in higher fuel costs and enabling the development of new skill sets around economic operation.
Over an extended period the vessel operator builds up an overview of fuel usage across a fleet of vessels using data recorded and delivered direct to the office, which in turn makes it possible to develop an extended fuel consumption policy. This has the potential to lead to significant long-term economies.
