Boluda Towage has partnered with a digitalisation platform provider to cut emissions from its fleet of more than 300 tugboats by 30%
A subsidiary of family owned Boluda Corporación Marítima, it has teamed up with Onboard to analyse operational data and find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years.
Data from the Onboard platform will enable Boluda to operate tugboats more efficiently, as the owner builds an accurate and real-time display of what is happening on its vessels.
All job activities, such as towing, mobilisation, pinning, waiting and idling will be recorded, plus other planning and towage details such as pick-up and destination locations, quay information, pilot involvement, equipment in use and whether a tug is operating at the bow or stern of ships.
This information is combined with measurements automatically collected on board, such as fuel consumption, speed, distance travelled and tug tracks resulting in a detailed operational dataset, used by integrated analytics to provide port-specific key performance indicators and operational metrics.
Onboard founder Florus Wilming said Boluda can use analytics to reduce its environmental footprint by identifying waste activities, reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
“With these insights, Boluda can provide feedback and clear instructions to its entire nautical supply chain,” said Mr Wilming.
Boluda is integrating the Onboard platform with its towing jobs registry TugVision to automate tasks such as planning and invoicing. This means the crew does not have to log in and switch between different applications and register the same information twice, said Mr Wilming.
“Both of these advantages help improve productivity, as well as make life easier for the crew, freeing their time for other tasks, and keeping them happy on the job,” he said.
Initially, Boluda installed Onboard on seven tugboats operating in the Port of Zeebrugge. During these trials, it reduced emissions by 20% within the first five months of operation.
“The biggest potential for fuel saving lay in mobilisation rather than towing,” said Mr Wilming.
Boluda found that if a tug is called too late for a job, this vessel will speed to be ready for the towage operations and fuel consumption can be up to 2.5 times higher than if the tug left at the appropriate time and sailed at the optimal speed.
Boluda also found inefficient deployments, where vessels that are out and available are asked to return to berth while a vessel on standby at the berth is mobilised.
“Optimising for both issues drove a sharp downward trend in fuel consumption,” said Mr Wilming.
More information was gained from a greater understanding of the port layout, berthing areas, docks and mooring zones, and the weather and sea conditions.
Boluda used this information as feedback to other supply chain partners such as pilots, crew and linesmen. It expects this information to slash fuel consumption by a further 10%.
By August, Boluda aims to have Onboard implemented on 17 of its tugs by installing it on two vessels in the Port of Antwerp, two in the Port of Ghent and six in the Port of Hamburg.
For long-term emissions reduction, Boluda is also considering investing in tugs operating on hydrogen.
It is conducting research with the Port of Antwerp to identify the optimal location for a hydrogen station by analysing heat maps of vessel movement within the port.
Boluda is also sharing emissions data with the commercial department, since its clients are increasingly being expected to report on towage emissions as part of their own Scope 3 reporting.
