The Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan is a special tool

devised by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to

measure and control the green house gas (GHG) emissions from
ships. The main aim of SEEMP is to not only reduce harmful
emissions from ships but also to improve efficiency and decrease
fuel consumption. Mostly all new ships are implemented with
SEEMP and EEDI tools to keep a proper check on pollution from
ships.
However, according to Chief Engineer Mahendra Singh,
managing ship’s energy efficiency has lot to do with the habits of
the crew members than the plans made on paper. In fact,
according to him, the ship energy efficiency management plan
should be termed as ship energy efficiency improvement habits.
Read : How to improve energy efficiency of ships?
Just like in every field, habits and attitude are the most important
things on board ships. If you spend a lot of time in planning but
don’t implement it seriously then the efforts are of no use.
The biggest saving in fuel consumption, as important aspect of
SEEMP, is achieved by reducing speed of the ship suitably while
negotiating rough weather. Many times, engine room officers are
mistakenly driven by an Estimated Time of Arrival – ETA ( many
mishaps have happened due to this alone) and simply to follow it
rigidly they do not reduce speed even if it puts major stain on the
engine and the ship’s structure.
For the new ships and the ships which will come in future, there
are going to be lot of advanced features implemented, concerning
the hull shape and improved paints and various other techniques
for wake equalization and flow separation, however for existing
and older vessels below mentioned points should be noted for
ensuring ship energy efficiency improvement.
1. Energy Power Management: Generators should be run on as
high load as possible if burning heavy fuel. The engineers should
ensure that when the ship is out at sea, the running generator
must take the maximum load. For this, all the generators are to be
maintained in good condition or else for a normal sea load, if two
generators are running together even when only one can take the
load, the overall fuel consumption and engine emission will
increase.
Normally a ship is provided with one small generator with lesser
power capacity than the other. Such generator to be run at port as
the load will be less than the seagoing load.
2.Understanding the importance of Stoichiometric ratio: Air and
Fuel are the things that marine engineers need to manage but it is
easier said than done. In order to judge if an air-fuel mixture has
the correct ratio of air to fuel, the stoichiometric air fuel ratio has
to be known. If the composition of a fuel is known, this ratio can
be calculated rather easily.
3. Maintenance of fuel injectors and fuel pumps and
ensuring correct fuel viscosity at the injector must be of high
priority.
4. Maintaining the scavenge pressure by regular cleaning of
Turbochargers and the Air coolers is also important.
Read: 10 Points for Efficient Turbocharger Operation
(An important question that needs to be answered here is – who
will do it? We are mostly used to working with the fitters but on
many ships there is only one fitter and a tug of war always exist
between the engine and deck department to utilize the fitter. The
answer to this question is known to all but spoken by none.)
5. Ballasting and De-ballasting should, as far as possible, be done
by gravity. How much quantum of ballast we should carry and
where (in which tanks) is an art and this will depend upon our
route. Some officers insist on emptying all ballast by pump and fill
up again by pump with total disregard to stress and strain on the
steel structure. With all due respects to deck department, it is
observed that not many officers have adequate structural
knowledge. Again, we need to think radically, why we cannot
provide on the spot training during dry docking where we have
great chance of seeing many things, not visible while afloat and in
trade.
Checkout our ebook : A Guide to Drydocking of ships for engine
room department
6. Cleaning of smoke sides of oil fired boiler and the economizer
should be given importance and boiler pressure is to be adjusted
depending upon the needs (trading in cold area or hot area). In
hot areas there is no need to open steam to all bunker tanks but
we often do not clean the dump condenser nor maintain dumping
valve on auto. Moreover, to cope with the boiler pressure, officers
end up opening steam full in all tanks. These are important things
and the Class surveyors, while surveying the boiler, should pay
attention to these important accessories, which are mostly the
main causes of commotion in the Engine room.
Read: Energy audit of boilers
7. Viscotherm is not commonly checked during surveys of Class
Societies; however, it is an important equipment in connection
with correct burning of fuel. Earlier, it was perhaps not considered
necessary but with emphasis on clean exhaust and added
attainment of Energy efficiency, this equipment attracts attention.
8. Container ships sometimes attain up to 22-24 Knot speed
burning lot of costly fuel. This can be justified if the aim is to catch
a convoy but not for a normal run when in many cases such a
gain will be nullified by delay in berthing, a slack customs
clearance in ports and delays further down the multimodal system
up to the door step. Slow-steaming, a concept universally adopted
must be practiced. It will be worthwhile to give a thought; can we
save some fuel by reducing a few notches.
9. De-rating of main engine: As mentioned in the above point of
the advantage of fuel saving in slow steaming, the engineers have
to consider the power rating of the engine before adopting this
technique. “De-rating” of the main engine to the new speed and
new power level (around 70%) involves the timing of fuel injection,
adjusting exhaust valves, and exchanging other mechanical
components in the engine.
10. Last but not the least, monitoring and measuring
the performance of main engine is of utmost importance at regular
intervals of time. This would help to know any issue in advance
and provide sufficient time to take remedial measures. Read
eight ways to monitor and measure engine performance.
Complying with the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan and
enhancing the efficiency of the ship is not a very difficult task
provided ship officers take some basic precautions while handling
engine room machinery and operations.
These are some of the many important tasks that are necessary
to enhance the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan. If you
know any important points that can be added here. Let us know in
the comments below.
Disclaimer: The views mentioned above are of the author only.
Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from
available information and have not been authenticated by any
statutory authority. The author and Marine Insight do not claim it
to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The
views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any
guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be
followed by the reader.