On Wednesday, May 6, 2020, IMarEST UAE Branch and FUELTRAX had a successful first-ever webinar, with 172 viewers. FUELTRAX provided more insight into the groundbreaking FUELNET features that are successfully keeping more than 600 vessels connected worldwide, focusing on OPEX reduction capabilities delivered by Electronic Fuel Monitoring Systems (EFMS).
Nikeel Idnani, Honorary Secretary IMarEST UAE, provided the opening and closing address. Victoria Cantu, Director of Business Development at FUELTRAX, presented OPEX reduction capabilities of 10% or greater for users of FUELTRAX EFMS and FUELNET, reviewing key case studies for OSVs, tankers, and bulk carriers.
For vessels that must stay in operation while simultaneously expected to reduce expenses, an easy solution is to address fuel consumption from a reliable and proven approach.
Since 2004, FUELTRAX has been leading improvements in vessel operations through accurate and reliable fuel measurements on board, delivering key insight in real-time to shoreside managers. Combined with the logistics web portal, FUELNET, Victoria demonstrated how to optimize the performance of your fleet in real-time with decision-ready reporting of live vessel location and fuel activities.
Fleets using FUELTRAX tools and recommendations have experienced OPEX reductions of 10% or greater in annual fuel costs in various operational modes due to the eradication of fuel-wasting behaviors previously not visible without EFMS on board.
At the end of the webinar, there was a live Q&A session. The following are some of the answered questions:
Q: Is there a specific vessel condition? Are you counting from TRIM, Cargo, or other vessel conditions?
A: FUELTRAX is reading fuel consumption in real-time from the Coriolis meters installed on board, and we measure the supply and the return of each meter in real-time. We account for all forces that are acting against the hull because it affects how much fuel is consumed. So as conditions are changing the fuel consumption, the FUELTRAX system can read and recognize those changes to make new recommendations.
Q: Can the FUELTRAX system integrate with an existing system on board?
A: The industry and our client history lead us to believe the new standardization will call for more self-contained and closed-loop onboard systems that do not integrate, and so, our system remains completely independent as a level of security, accuracy, and reliability. That's what gives us our capability of being able to dial into the system at any point in time. For the system to be able to talk back to us, and then by having that same independence and closed-loop design, we can maintain a data delivery guarantee for you. We guarantee that we will always be able to get the data off your vessel at any point in time. We are working on how to take advantage of other data that is available on board, and the best way that we can do that is in our FUELNET cloud. By communicating cloud-to-cloud and by sharing information already collected from the vessel, we can provide enhanced analytics and reporting capabilities.
Q: Is the new hardware required to be installed for data to transfer, and what kind of data size-frequency are we talking about on the existing communication system?
A: Yes, we provide our independent satellite communication. It is nominal, about the size of a water bottle, and an unintrusive Iridium antenna that allows our Iridium connection to have pole-to-pole coverage across the world. We have no blackout zones, and many vessel owners value that level of reliability. We handle all the data sizes and frequencies–this way, vessel owners don't have to worry about it! Our protocols are being adjusted and maintained to manage the data size and to keep the vessel owners with one flat rate when it comes to the data transfer fees.
Q: Where are the measurement points? For example, the daily tanks.
A: The primary measurement points that we focus on are the Coriolis meters themselves. Like I mentioned earlier, we are providing Coriolis meters for every supply line and every return line of the main engine generators and any other piece of machinery on board that needs to be measured that is consuming fuel. By combining all of those individual measurements, we get a complete picture of total fuel consumption across the vessel. We then marry that with a Coriolis meter on either bunkering or transfer lines. We can do that with cargo or ship fuel to measure the amount of fuel received on board. Optionally, we can add tank sensors to the system, which will give you a complete picture of fuel consumed, transferred, and ROB. We have a lot of vessels in the Caspian Sea that operate with this configuration of the FUELTRAX system.
Click here to learn more and register for the next FUELTRAX webinar.
About FUELTRAX
From its inception in 2004, FUELTRAX has grown to be the leading universal fuel management solution, compatible with any vessel, engine or fuel, in any location in the world. Together with its cloud-based data and analytics service, FUELNET, it provides fully self-contained, smart monitoring and measurement, reducing costs and setting the standard for secure, compliant, optimized vessel performance, and fuel accountability.
FUELTRAX is a product and registered trademark of Nautical Control Solutions, LP.
For further information, please contact:
For media inquiries, please contact:
Jessica Hurd, Marketing Communications Manager
JHURD@FUELTRAX.COM | T: +1 281-209-3480
