Slow steaming is a popular measure for commercial vessels, as a way of reducing fuel consumption, and therefore operating costs. Reducing ship speed is one of the measures to meet International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirements for Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. Slow steaming approach is introduced for container shipping by Maersk Lines and later has been applied to other types of ships including tankers and dry bulk ships. Tankers and dry bulk ships sail almost half of their time in ballast load condition. This results in significant change in the underwater hull form shape and the associated hydrodynamic characteristics which is rarely given any consideration. With the current trend towards operation according to the slow steaming approach, ships are operating in conditions that are significantly different to those for which they were designed and optimized. Thus, sailing in off-design conditions can cause several occurrences such as: the change in the propulsion and propeller efficiency, the change in the level of vibration, the loss of turbocharger efficiency and the loss of heat recovery systems efficiency. Therefore, it is important to analyze the ship overall performance in off-design conditions. The project deals with three main issues related to the sailing in off-design conditions, namely the change in the propulsion and propeller efficiency, the change in the main engine operation conditions, and the change in the level of vibration of line shaft. The project is intended to improve understanding and provide new insights of the before mentioned problems due to sailing in off-design conditions. The project results will enable ship operators and shipowners to gain new insights related to the application of slow steaming approach or sailing at different loading conditions. Thus, recommendations related to the sailing in off-design conditions will be provided based on the obtained project results.
Acronym:
STARSHIP
Project ID:
IP-2020-02-8568
Call:
IP-2020-02
Project type:
Scientific-research
Funding type:
Project funding
Funder:
CSF – Croatian Science Foundation
Financing details:
RP – Research Projects
Total cost:
789.750,00 HRK
Project duration:
01-03-2021 – 28-02-2025
Institution – role:
University of Zagreb, The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture – Leader (789.750,00 HRK) [01-03-2021 – 28-02-2025]