Page 82: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2012)

82Maritime Reporter & Engineering News MARKETMARITIME COMMUNICATIONS As a consequence of recent IMO reg- ulations, shipowners are requested to improve energy efficiency of their ships? operation with regard to various factors that drive fuel consumption and emissions. The German navigation sys- tem manufacturer Raytheon Anschütz addresses these requirements with itsnewly developed autopilot series NP 5000. Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) has contracted Raytheon An- schütz for retrofitting existing autopilot systems on its fleet of oil tankers with the newly developed Anschütz Nau- toPilot 5300. The first autopilot system was installed onboard Overseas Fran in October 2011. ?OSG are undertaking great efforts to increase energy efficiency onboard of their ships. The choice of our new adap- tive autopilot system was influenced by considerations of saving fuel and thus reducing emissions,? said Olav Denker, Product Manager at Raytheon An- schütz. ?With OSG, we have now had the chance to prove positive effects of NP 5000 on steering performance andfuel consumption in practice for thefirst time.? NP 5000 helps optimize rudder move- ments with its integrated ECO-Mode. In Eco-Mode, the autopilot automati-cally adapts to the current sea-state andweather. Instead of keeping a heading with frequent rudder actions with highamplitudes, the rudder?s sensitivity to periodical yawing movements caused by roll and pitch is reduced. Subse-quently less rudder action is required,which leads to lower levels of speed re- duction and thus less fuel consumption. The first voyage of ?Overseas Fran? with NP 5000 was from Skagen to New York. To investigate the actual effect of NP 5000 on rudder steering, the head-ing and rudder plot of this voyage was compared with the results of the lastvoyage on the same route with the old autopilot system, under similar weatherconditions during both voyages. Capt. Dmitry Shatrov, Master of Overseas Fran, explains: ?We can see on our print-out that rudder movement is more economic and gentle with thenew autopilot system.? The effect of ECO-Mode is further supported by the new integrated head- ing and rudder plotter, which provides a graphical indication of heading changesand the resulting rudder angles. This graphic display instantaneously indi-cates the steering performance of thevessel due to the effects of changes to parameter settings such as rudder, counter rudder and yawing. The opera- tor benefits from simplified adjustments of the autopilot?s settings to gain opti- mized steering performance, which fur- ther minimizes rudder action and thusincreases fuel efficiency. ?The newly installed autopilot system has a user-friendly interface in which you can easily adjust autopilot func-tionality in the prevailing circum- stances, weather condition and requiredsteering accuracy. So that we can navi- gate the vessel more gently and eco- nomically, taking into consideration fuel savings and safety,? said Capt. Sha- trov. The relevance of optimized rud- der movements for fuel savings has already been highlighted by IMO as a?best practice? for efficient ship opera- tion when developing a Ship Energy Ef- ficiency Management Plan (SEEMP). ?Since we all know that less rudder movement significantly contributes to reduced fuel consumption and emis-sions, we have developed and imple- mented unique features such as theEco-mode and the heading and rudderplotter into the new NP 5000 autopilot series,? said Denker. In addition to its fuel-saving potential, NP 5000 is also equipped with ad-vanced functions for high precision course keeping, for example for safe navigation in challenging sea areas near coastlines and shallow sea areas, plat- forms or archipelagos. Besides headingcontrol and track control the new au- topilot features a course control mode.When steering in this mode, the autopi-lot automatically compensates for driftand keeps the vessel on the defined course over ground line. An optionally integrated acceleration monitor pro- vides a warning if a pre-defined cross acceleration limit is exceeded. This helps to avoid damage to cargo or dis- comfort to passengers due to high ac-celeration stresses that might occur forexample during a heading change at high speed.OSG Contracts for Autopilot Refit of Fleet NP 5000 & Good Fuel ConsumptionNautoPilot5000 with Inte-grated Headingand RudderPlotter. MISC Berhad Chooses Inmarsat XpressLink Malaysian shipping conglomerate MISC Berhad (MISC) signed up 46 of its vessels ? a grouping com- prised of chemical and LNG tankers ? for Inmarsat?s XpressLink service. XpressLink is a fully integrated and managed combination of VSAT and FleetBroadband delivering unlimited data availability across the world?s oceans. It includes an option for MISC Berhad to double its available bandwidth at a pre-deter- mined monthly rate when Inmarsat?s Global Xpress constellation becomes commercially available from 2014. The battle for supremecy in the maritime communication sector has been vigorous, and the MISC sign- ing is a significant win for Inmarsat. ?It is important for us to have ample bandwidth to manage our ship and shore operational systems and meet the communication needs of our seafarers at sea,? said Captain S Ra- jalingam, VP, Fleet Management System at MISC Berhad. ?During our sea trials, XpressLink impressed us with its performance (and) offered the best value proposition delivering reliable, unlimited data usage on both the VSAT and FleetBroadband services.? XpressLink combines Inmarsat?s high volume Ku-band VSAT system with FleetBroadband in a single package. In a press briefing to announce the contract, Frank Coles, President of Inmarsat Maritime, said: ?We launched Inmarsat XpressLink in response to the growing need for unlimited high speed communica- tions in the worldwide shipping market. Crew welfare and the need for increased operational efficiency are key drivers in the market, and with XpressLink, we can provide a future-proof communications platform.? ?It is important for us to have ample bandwidth tomanage our ship and shore operational systems?Captain S Rajalingam,VP, Fleet Management System, MISC BerhadMR#8 (82-89):MR Template 8/13/2012 12:02 PM Page 82