Very large crude oil carriers (VLCCs) operated by Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line), a major Japanese shipping company, will start using ocean current forecasts to make navigation more fuel efficient, according to an announcement by the company on March 13, 2008. The forecasts provided by Forecast Ocean Partnership (FOP), an organization specializing in oceanographic data services, are expected to help the VLCCs reduce their fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by up to nine percent in the Kuroshio Current, as compared to navigation using conventional forecast charts.

Based on data obtained from satellites, drifting buoys and ships, FOP predicts changes in ocean currents on a supercomputer using a simulation system developed by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). The FOP's forecasts give detailed information on flow velocity distribution at every 10 miles (about 18 kilometers) in the Kuroshio Current, which allows vessels to save fuel by taking advantage of ocean flows.

The usefulness of FOP's information was tested by NYK Line's 13 VLCCs in 2006 and 2007. An analysis of data from 23 voyages of these VLCCs in the Kuroshio Current demonstrated reductions in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of up to nine percent.

http://www.nyk.com/english/news/2008/0318_01.htm
http://www.forecast-ocean.com/eng/fop/

Posted: 2008/07/16 05:32:55 PM

TAG Energy , Non-manufacturing industry , Transportation