The ‘Blue Economy’ is a key driver of the EU economy as well as of world-wide importance for the import/export of affordable energy, food and goods. However, rising fuel prices, a drop in charter rates and increased environmental restrictions have put serious pressures on the profitability of commercial shipping and the sustainability of affordable import/export. With fuel costs contributing up to 60% of a ship’s operating costs, UNCTAD has shown that a 10% increase in oil prices raises costs to ship a container by 3.6% and one ton of iron or crude oil by 10.5% and 2.8% respectively. Furthermore, the rising environmental footprint of shipping (3%/4% of global/EU greenhouse emissions) has led to the EU maritime MRV regulation, requiring ship owners & operators to annually monitor, report and verify CO2 emissions for vessels larger than 5,000GT.
EcoSail represents a giant leap forward from current state-of-the-art, with clear operational benefits for the global maritime sector compared to current sail planning products. Now a verified and demonstratable prototype, EcoSail’s ability for voyage optimisation will allow ship operators to achieve (and validate) fuel savings from 3% to 10% which is in line with the estimated 7% goal which was set in the EcoSail Project and avoid hazardous weather conditions (leading to reduced wear and tear, reduced maintenance costs and extension of a ship’s operational lifetime). Exemplifying EcoSail’s market-disruptive potential, a 7% decrease in vessel fuel consumption for i.e. a very large crude carrier (VLCC) or a medium-size container vessel can lead to average annual reductions of 2,520 tons of fuel, 5,544 tons of CO2 and 158 tons of SOx. Such 7% fuel saving will annually lead up to €3.5m in cost savings per ship.
The EcoSail system provides sustainable sail plan service system by incorporating metocean data, self-learning ship performance and multi-objective voyage optimization models, provides advanced decision support systems allowing end-users to optimize ships’ sailing routes and time schedule as to obtain the lowest possible fuel consumption and air emissions, accurate estimation of Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), enhanced ship/cargo safety and passenger comfort, etc. The overall objective of this project is to address and implement the technical and commercial roadmaps developed in our preceding R&D projects to enable a rapid and successful commercialisation of EcoSail, by upgrading, testing & validation of final prototype to TRL9 in real work environment (WP1 &3), developing training programs (WP2), promoting EcoSail system exploitation, marketing & sales (WP4 &5), and ensuring smooth operations, implement innovation management, financial management, IP monitoring and protection, achieve and deliver a final Business Innovation Plan (BIP) and Commercialisation Plan (CP) (WP6).
We achieved technical maturation objectives as part of final prototyping and upgrading activities. We introduced a training program under WP2. The overall aim in WP3 was to elevate our EcoSail service prototype to TRL9 which we achieved through validation.
We ensured the EcoSail value chain is optimised to handle increased sales volumes when launched and further cover all activities related to commercialisation of the EcoSail service. WP5 was to communicate and disseminate the project’s results which we achieved despite the impact of the pandemic. In WP6 ensured smooth operations, implemented innovation management, financial management, continued IP monitoring and protection, achieved, and delivered out final Business Innovation Plan (BIP) and Commercialisation Plan (CP).
