Savings do in fact arise from reduced RPMs. Thus we, at Maryville, have recently initiated a relevant programme, with the cooperation of the major engine manufacturer MAN/B&W, to change all the fuel valves of our engines to the new slide type. Accordingly, we have as of now performed modifications to 23 out of the 32 applicable ships,” says Apostolos Apostolou, technical manager of Maryville Maritime Inc, a fully owned subsidiary of Excel Shipping  in Athens.
He continues: “With this important investment, we have managed to protect our engines, since we can now run on lower RPMs without the fear of any engine breakdowns, and thus significantly reduce our operating costs, in terms of fuel consumption, as well as maintenance costs overall. In addition, we have changed our engines’ operating profile going forward, while all our recently delivered newbuildings are already equipped to this standard. So, based on the slow steaming RPMs, we are able to enjoy fuel savings in the region of 35% on average per day/ship.”
You have evidently invested substantially in efforts to operate in an efficient and environmentally friendly way. Why is this important to you?
“We manage 47 ships for Excel – seven Capesize, 14 Kamsarmax, 21 Panamax, two Supramax and three Handymax – and, as an ISO 14001 certified company, fuel efficient operations resulting into cost reductions and environmentally friendly operations are of utmost importance to us. Our ships trade worldwide carrying cargoes ranging from iron ore to coal, grains, bauxite, fertilisers and steel products. About half of our fleet is fixed on a time charter basis, while the rest is trading in the spot market, meaning that we almost always pass most of the fuel costs on to our charterers. As a result, charterers have become increasingly interested in fuel efficiency and environmental considerations themselves, differentiating between and preferring owners that can offer these. As a big and important player in the market, we constantly follow and align ourselves to market trends, such as that of slow steaming requests by most charterers arising from their aim to contain exposure to fuel price increases. On the same note, we should of course mention that, like our charterers, our own bottom line is also very important, meaning that investments in fuel efficiency and measures to reduce our environmental footprint through lower emissions will have a positive impact on our operations in the long term.”
Many measures have been implemented to reduce sulphur in fuels. Your views on this?
“This is correct and the environmental protection aims of various regulators and the shipping industry overall are on the right track. It should be pointed out, though, that shipping emissions are currently estimated to be only in the region of 4-5% of the total global emissions, which is significantly lower than other global emission contributors. On the other hand, the fact is that emissions from the shipping industry are on a rising path, so that marine engines’ emissions shall inevitably be further regulated going forward, a trend which is also supported by the engine makers’ efforts to produce new and even more fuel-efficient engine designs. However, the introduction of low sulphur fuels had somewhat of a contradictory effect on the older engines, which are not designed to operate with these fuels and thus lead to costly technical modification solutions. In our efforts to become pioneers and contribute to this trend, we have also investigated ways of using scrubbers on some newbuildings but eventually concluded that the investment costs are very high compared to the low return on investment unless a vessel were to constantly operate in SECA and ECA zones. In addition, the continuous increase in bunker prices has led to worse quality bunkers worldwide, with an alarming frequency of fuels with high contents of silicone + aluminium, known as cat fines. These particles grind all the combustion-related components in the engine, eventually resulting in huge and costly engine damage as well as off hires. It is unfortunate that, in our day-to-day operations, three out of ten times we find cat fines of above 60 ppm, which is the latest ISO 8217 standard limit, in bunkered fuels. However, I do believe that the shipping industry, in cooperation with the major bunker suppliers worldwide, will take steps to improve the bunkers quality in general and protect owners and vessels.”
Are charterers becoming more environmentally focused?
“The short answer is yes. We, for instance, are working closely with several of our charterers in order to estimate when our ships really need to be at a specific port to pick up or deliver a cargo, thus deriving the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). Such calculations are becoming increasingly important, enabling our ships to sail at reduced speeds but still arrive just on time for cargo operations. In order to satisfy our and our charterers’ environmental concerns, we are also considering other measures, such as propeller ducts of various kinds, boss cap fins on propellers and hull fins. Charterers’ increased concern about fuel consumption, which has become rather persistent lately, is quite a positive development for the global environment as well as fuel savings. So undoubtedly charterers do and will continue even more to prefer vessels that can offer reduced fuel consumption. Thus we feel that we have begun an important effort to build further on our competitive advantage and secure better business for our fleet.”
There are also gains to be made from trim optimisation – what are your views on this?
“We have tried everything and looked at all the angles and, a little to our and our masters’ surprise on some particular vessels, we have found that a forward trim of 0.5 to 0.8 metres leads to a one-knot speed gain, which corresponds to 24 miles a day with the same fuel consumption. We have tried trip optimisation on many of our vessels and are now in a position to really know where the gains can be found.”
“This must mean that it is important for your shipboard crew to also understand how environmental efforts impact the bottom line. How do you approach this?”
“Well, we operate with a top to bottom Philippine crew and the retention rate of our officers and crew is 92%, which is a relatively high number in comparison to our peers. We provide in-house training and I must say that our crew has a very good understanding of the issues involved. Overall, we benefit greatly from our training centre in Manila and our crew is truly proud to be working towards our objectives and goals in a market that is rather unfavourable right now. We use advanced online software to constantly monitor the vessels’ daily performance as well as to track their location, course and speed and obtain other useful information. Through the close cooperation between our staff on shore and at sea, we successfully enjoy the most efficient operations combined with the least possible impact on the environment.”
So you feel that, as a ship management company, you are satisfying your owner Excel’s and your customers’ demands for efficient operations?
“I feel that we are on top of operations and that we professionally manage the 47 Excel ships. We keep up with future demands and we operate safely and efficiently!”
Source: DNV