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Top-level executives at Finnish clean-tech software engineering firm Eniram and Miami-headquartered Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd recently discussed how the two firms have been working together to improve the energy efficiency of the cruise operator's fleet in order to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and cut fuel costs.

Eniram, which provides energy management technology and analytic services to the shipping industry, began optimizing the energy consumption of cruise vessels in 2005. The company now optimizes the operations of over 130 large cruise ships.

Discussing the cruise operator's partnership with Eniram at the tech event Slush 2015, held on November 11-12 in Helsinki, Finland, Harri Kulovaara, Executive Vice President of Maritime at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, explained: "We are building new technologies from scratch. Regarding energy efficiency, we are cutting edge. Energy efficiency also means minimizing the environmental impact as a direct consequence of reduced fuel consumption."

Eniram's technology collects a vast amount of vessel onboard data during normal operation, using over a trillion measurement points. The data is then used to build a model based on the mathematical relationship between different performance elements.

"Based on that massive amount of data, we build mathematical relationships, we build a digital model to be able to really understand the different performance factors and how they affect each other; the relationship between all these elements," said Henrik Dahl, CEO of Eniram, at the Helsinki event.

Eniram's advanced technology brings real-time guidance to onboard personnel on the optimal speed at which to operate, what route to take, how to best trim the vessel and how much load the engines should have.

Guidance results are displayed in a user-friendly way on a screen using a 'traffic lights' system.

"On board of the vessel, we put something that is very simple - it's a traffic light to help the crew who has this massively complex operation there," Dahl explained.

A red light indicates the prompt need for action to restore optimal operations, a yellow light provides a warning on a negative trend in performance and a green light means that the the system is performing in an optimal way.

Eniram's collaboration with Royal Caribbean Cruises started in 2009. The initial anticipated savings were 2 percent; however, the first results came out at 0.6 percent. Currently, Eniram's energy management and optimization solution decreases fuel consumption by an average of 4 percent for Royal Caribbean's fleet; saving approximately $16 million in fuel costs and reducing CO2 emissions by 35,000 tonnes annually.

"Eniram is a great example of the type of companies with whom Royal Caribbean is partnering strongly. Eniram use technology and data mining to improve the operational efficiency of our vessels, and we are most pleased with the results so far," Kulovaara said.

"The emphasis will be on real-time management of the whole fleet of vessels, enabling a predictive capability for the crew to take measures. For example, if a vessel for any reason should deviate from the planned and forecasted performance, Eniram and Royal Caribbean, as well as the officers onboard will get instant notification. Royal Caribbean's shoreside specialists and Eniram's support team are able to identify the deviation online and assist the crew to solve the problem and get back on track," Dahl said.

"What we are doing is not about controlling the captains. It is rather about Eniram and Royal Caribbean together supporting the crew to make savings. It will be what Houston is for space crafts, indeed a command centre, but there for the officers onboard the vessels to provide support," Dahl added.

Both companies are looking to increase the savings from their cooperation to 10 percent.

"The potential is also perhaps more substantial and harder than the onboard optimization. Going from optimizing 40 vessels to a fleet involving over 50,000 people needs a completely different approach, especially as there are only 75 Eniramers. This is why the approach needs to be a joint partnership," Dahl remarked.

A link to a video of the on-stage discussion with Harri Kulovaara and Henrik Dahl at Slush 2015 has been provided below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fvgMoJRbBA