Maritime Emission Manager Course

The ship speed and route is best not only to be decided by commercial and contractual considerations but also using data on sea condition, sea currents, water depth and wind characteristics. The optimal speed distribution along the route can be calculated in advance, if a weather forecast is available. These techniques are used by weather routing service providers as part of their ship modelling and analysis. The advantages of including weather routing in a ships passage plan is that a ship on an ocean passage can significantly reduce its fuel used by reducing the time taken for a particular voyage, even if the route taken is longer. Weather routing is mainly applicable to ocean going vessels that have some flexibility in which route they take. The abatement potential is quoted at between 1 and 4% but some providers do quote much higher for individual ships on particular routes of up to 8% (MariEMS 2017).