Energy Audit to 405 Gross Tonnage General Cargo Vessel "M/V BIP MAR II"

Authors

Chinchilla Osorio, Alejandro José

Villatoro Flores, Héctor Fernando

Abstract

In 2016, in Honduras, through the General Directorate of the Merchant Marine, the amendments to the International Convention for Pollution Prevention from ships were adopted and with this, ship´s compliance with the requirements for the prevention of air pollution was ratified. The merchant ships of the Honduran fleet that navigate in international waters and have a gross tonnage equal to or greater than 400 must comply with the requirements established for the prevention of air pollution and, additionally, must implement a ship energy efficiency management plan. The supplier-type vessel, BIP MAR II, is a general cargo ship of 405.8 Gross Tonnage, flagged in Honduras, with a navigation patent authorized for international voyages, that is currently engaged in a short sea shipping route (SSS) of goods in intranational waters on the Atlantic coasts of the country. The objective of this research is to carry out an energy audit onboard the ship to estimate the energy demand of the ship. The development of the energy audit makes it possible to obtain a diagnosis of the current situation of the ship's operations and to understand the relationship between the different systems that comprise it and the ship's fuel consumption. For this, the survey of equipment on board the ship was carried out, specific information was collected on the hours of operation and fuel consumption of the ship by reviewing the Captain's Logbooks and the Chief Engineer's Log. In the analysis of the ship's operations, the distances sailed, hours of availability of the ship, the average speed of navigation and the amount of cargo and the weight of the merchandise transported in the course of 60 trips between the island of Roatán and Puerto Cortes were taken into account. To compare the operations of the ship´s performance month by month and evaluate the energy efficiency in the transport of merchandise, energy efficiency indicators were determined that allow establishing a baseline for the Ship´s Energy Efficiency Management Plan. Additionally, together with the guidelines issued by the Marine Environment Protection Committee, of the International Maritime Organization, the Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator (EEOI) was calculated, which aims to promote the monitoring and control of CO2 emissions, as well as substances that deplete the ozone layer and other greenhouse gases. The energy audit and, one of its purposes is to carry out the analysis to determine and evaluate the opportunities for improving energy efficiency. Based on the guidelines for the development and implementation of management systems, the improvement opportunities seek to solve the requirements that allow the ship to operate under the appropriate conditions, limiting the environmental impact of its operations and enabling the ship's self-assessment to set improvement goals regarding energy efficiency within the operator company.