Background

BW Dry Cargo maintains a fleet of 14 modern bulk carriers ranging from Ultramax to Capesize. The company was founded in 2016 as the dry cargo arm of BW Group, operating exclusively as a tonnage provider.

Built in 2019, BW RYE is a Kamsarmax bulk carrier with a deadweight tonnage of 81,600 tonnes, operating worldwide, primarily carrying agricultural products.

The Challenge

BW Dry Cargo, like shipowners worldwide, invests in new fuel-saving technologies to ensure the best possible efficiency of their fleet. However, they face difficulties when trying to measure the actual effect of such technologies.

“Everyone is promised 10% fuel savings here, 5% efficiency gains there, but nobody can measure if that’s what they really get. We want to eliminate this uncertainty and make investments that matter, whilst calling time on those that don’t,” said Christian Bonfils, Managing Director, BW Dry Cargo.

On-board new-built BW RYE, the company was keen to understand whether it was possible to measure vessel speed through water together with environmental conditions, such as wind, waves and currents, with an accuracy that would make it possible to identify a minimum 5% efficiency gain.

The Solution

The BW Dry Cargo team approached Miros for a solution which accurately measures weather and sea state – the Miros Wavex. Wavex provides measurements of waves, currents and speed through water with unprecedented accuracy.

By combining the vessel’s true speed through water and environmental conditions with a number of in-service data points, such as shaft power and fuel oil consumption, BW Dry Cargo is able to eliminate the environmental conditions from the equation and determine the actual performance of the vessel.

“By removing weather from the picture we can understand the vessel’s true performance. Furthermore, we’re doing it continuously, so we can tweak operations on the go, for optimal performance” explained Michael Schmidt, Head of Newbuildings & Projects, BW Dry Cargo

Conclusion

Using Wavex, Miros’ dry-mounted, radar-based technology, BW Dry Cargo was able to combine in-service data points from BW RYE with measured weather conditions from the vessel location.

This enabled them to understand the true value of their investments, as well as to operate the ship more efficiently, saving fuel and, ultimately, reducing carbon emissions.