Some of you are members of the Linked-In community, a business oriented social network site. If you are, you undoubtedly follow some of the Groups that are targeted to the Marine Industry, such as; Maritime Executive or Maritime Network (there are over 25 Marine Industry groups). Recently there was a discussion within the Maritime Executive Group on the Current Trends in Reducing Operating Costs.
There were many suggestions – slow steaming – low friction coatings – optimized routing - optimizing the engines – and others – all, however, attributed the savings to the one area that nearly everyone agreed offered the most opportunity for meaningful savings – a reduction in the amount of fuel being consumed. So, if there is near unanimous agreement that reducing fuel consumption is the most obvious place to look for meaningful savings, why is there not more intense interest in MFM solutions that offer the best and most accurate way to measure and prove these savings?
Take, for example, slow steaming. If you are going to reduce speed to save fuel, why not use technology to help you find the best way to do that. Everyone knows that the relationship between fuel consumption and speed is non-linear. Peak efficiency, therefore, is not just a matter of guessing at a setting; it is finding the most optimal setting. That is something that cannot be done if the way you measure fuel consumption is by sounding the tanks once per day or calculating fuel consumption at the end of the trip.
If you’re going to be serious about efficiency, then you must be serious about measuring the things that contribute to efficiency. Whether you are operating an existing fleet, planning for a retrofit, or building new vessels; MFM should be a serious consideration.
Having good information is key to making good business decisions and MFM solutions are key to having good information about your vessels fuel consumption and operating habits.
