Scandinavian IT company BunkerMetric is rolling out new functionality for its BunkerPlanner bunker procurement software to assist users in transitioning to the changing regulatory environment resulting from the forthcoming IMO 2020 sulphur cap rules.
BunkerPlanner has now added SECA speed optimisation functionality to determine the optimal speed to sail inside and outside SECAs, in order to minimise fuel expenditure while maintaining the vessel’s schedule. This is in addition to SECA routing optimisation, which determines the optimal path to follow in view of the overall sailing distance, SECA portions, and fuel price differentials.
Users of the software can specify whether a scrubber has been installed on a given vessel, which will be taken into account for calculations and cause the software to automatically leverage the scrubber to the greatest extent possible and only use distillate fuels where required.
“Bunker procurement practices need to advance all the time to adapt to market and regulatory changes,” said Fernando Alvarez, BunkerMetric co-founder.
“This is why we believe bunker buyers will benefit from additional data and algorithmic decision support. In a volatile bunker market, bunker buyers can use BunkerPlanner to quickly find the cheapest and safest bunkering options for their fleet, depending on whether the vessel has a scrubber or not. This reduces cost and creates transparency.”
The software has also added an option to transition a subset of vessels within the fleet to operate under the new legislative framework ahead of January 2020.
With this, vessels without a scrubber will shift towards procurement and utilisation of VLSFO in global waters at the earliest opportunity. Vessel operators will be able to specify a new tank configuration to enable carriage of VLSFO and gradually phase out remaining HSFO inventories.
The final feature addition provides users with new options to specify the consumption quantities and fuel types for each fuel consumer on the vessel, based on selections regarding the fuel capabilities of the main engines, auxiliaries, and boilers. The software will then automatically select the optimal fuel type to be used by each engine type in each ECA zone.
