Optimized Use of Thrusters During Transit with a Passenger Ferry

Abstract

This paper aims to address the impact that optimized use of propulsion equipment would have on a ferry during transit. Assuming that the ship arrives at it’s destination on schedule, a potential reduction in fuel consumption would cut the overall cost of the voyage. The idea of optimizing propulsion equipment fostered a series of sea trials on board a passenger ferry in Norway. Modern aft-bow symmetrical ferries allow several different methods of manoeuvring, each with it’s own advantages and disadvantages. The goal was to uncover the method that used the least amount of KWh per nautical mile during transit. The results are presented in this paper and there are several interesting findings. For instance, applying equal RPM on both thrusters gave the lowest KWh per nautical mile. However, increasing the RPM on the aft thruster and reducing the RPM on the bow thruster gave the highest speed over ground.

Keywords

• thruster
• passenger ferry
• rpm
• colregs
• norwegian waters
• optimized use of thrusters
• ship's speed
• propulsion