Optimizing fuel usage for Maersk’s container ships

Maersk’s ‘Triple-E’ class vessels are the world’s largest container ships with each one capable of carrying more than 18,000 standard containers. Triple-E stands for the three design principles of economy of scale, energy efficient and environmentally improved, so optimizing the performance of the fleet’s diesel engines was key to achieving these objectives.

Optimizing engine performance

ABB’s combustion control solution was installed on Maersk’s Triple-E fleet to minimize and monitor fuel usage. Providing continuous and highly accurate measurement under all load conditions, ABB’s pressure transducers reduce fuel consumption by optimizing engine performance.

Bigger by design

Moving goods across the globe as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible is an ongoing challenge for the shipping industry with bigger and heavier loads increasingly becoming the norm. Maersk’s Triple-E class container vessels are the world’s largest, each carrying 18,270 twenty-foot standard containers when at capacity. Obtaining optimum and reliable engine performance, even when under full load conditions and over the long-term, was therefore essential to maximize vessel and operational performance.

Reducing fuel consumption

To optimize fuel consumption, ABB’s pressure transducers were installed to measure the combustion pressure of the ship’s electronically controlled twin 8-cylinder MAN diesel engines. These pressure transducers accurately monitor the pressure in each cylinder, continuously and in parallel, which enables tuning and controlling to be done stroke-by-stroke to reduce fuel consumption, save money and improve efficiency. This unique combustion control solution is also proven to be maintenance- and calibration-free for superior performance capability over the long-term.

ABB’s combustion control solution is helping to reduce the fuel consumption of Maersk’s Triple-E class, the world’s largest container ships.

Maersk

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