Use of weather routing
If a ship is operating in a sea area which has a high occurrence of bad weather, the owner may consider using weather routing services to reduce fuel cost and ship and cargo damage. For example, ships that are fine-lined and are fast often suffer from panting and pounding at the forward section of the ship when the wind and sea is ahead. Panting and pounding can result in significant damage below the waterline forward on the hull plating and it may be necessary to reduce the ships speed to save both fuel and expensive dry-dock bills repairing or renewing hull plating. These fast ships are often container ships or reefers or LNG ships and are on a set schedule and slowing down because of bad weather can mean that fleet management will suffer. Weather routing service can direct the ship away from sea areas where such weather conditions are exist with the likelihood of damage and increased fuel costs (MariEMS 2017).