Carnival Corp has reduced fuel expenditure and cruise ship emissions through an e-navigation joint industry project
Carnival collaborated with Wärtsilä Corp and Hamburg Vessel Coordination Center (HVCC) to test just-in-time (JIT) arrivals concept and technology.
This trial involved Aida cruise ships using Wärtsilä Navi-Port to seamlessly exchange data between ship and shore under real-life conditions, to enable optimal port arrival.
This is the first commercially available ship-to-port product that enables dynamically optimised port approach and terminal berthing.
Carnival modified voyages on its cruise ships to match requested time of arrival from and berthing capacity in the Port of Hamburg, Germany, reducing bunker costs and emissions throughout the route.
Carnival Maritime senior nautical superintendent Michael Salzmann said the technology was tested on Aida cruise ships AidaSol and AidaPerla during the summer cruise season in northern Europe in 2019.
“We are committed to making cruising more sustainable and to setting an example in greener and safer operations,” said Mr Salzmann. “For this, we welcome the development of new and more efficient technologies, such as Wärtsilä Navi-Port.”
AidaSol and AidaPerla both have Wärtsilä NACOS Platinum navigation systems that were connected directly to HVCC “which allowed continuous communications, resulting in JIT arrivals in Hamburg,” said Mr Salzmann.
There were also benefits to the port operator, said HVCC managing director Gerald Hirt. HVCC is responsible for the operational co-ordination of vessel traffic into and out of the Port of Hamburg in close collaboration with the relevant authorities. “Terminals, shipping companies, and port service providers make use of our operational services for the arrival of large-sized ships, feeder ships and inland waterway vessels in the port,” Mr Hirt explained.
HVCC is also responsible for rotation planning within the port and departure co-ordination. “Wärtsilä Navi-Port enables seamless communication of data between ports and vessels,” said Mr Hirt. “Ultimately, vessel approaches are even more efficient, resulting in reduced emissions.”
HVCC is a frontrunner in terminal-carrier communication. In 2019, it distributed more than 3,800 passage plans to ships.
Wärtsilä Navi-Port is a middleware that is hooked up to Wärtsilä’s Fleet Operations Solution suite. It applies the port call message standard as defined by the Sea Traffic Management (STM) validation project, in which Wärtsilä was a key contributor. During STM developments and trials, more than 300 vessels participated, of which 130 used Wärtsilä navigation systems.
Wärtsilä Navi-Port has received approval in principle from Bureau Veritas for meeting the classification society’s cyber security requirements.
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