Fuel — bunker oil — is NORDEN’s largest variable cost at sea. Even though bunker oil is a residual product from the refinement of oil, its price continues to increase. For that reason, it is NORDEN’s indispensable target that vessels sail at the right speed at all times in proportion to time and costs. NORDEN calls this right steaming.
With more than 140 years of experience, NORDEN knows what it takes getting a cargo to its destination, safely and in a timely manner. NORDEN keeps investing in quality and safety to continuously improve performance and make shipping safe, simple and cost efficient for the customers — as well as to reduce the environmental impact from shipping. The latest initiative on this agenda is the right steaming.
If one of NORDEN’s vessels — either owned or on long- term charter — will not be able to start loading until Monday, it makes no sense if it arrives on Friday. The loading process will not begin until Monday anyway. Almost regardless of the character of the voyage, by slowing down, the vessel could have minimized the consumption of fuel, bunker oil, considerably for the benefit of both costs and the environment by way of reduced CO2 emissions.
NORDEN calls this way of sailing performance-driven operation — or right steaming. This term is considered to be more adequate than slow steaming, which was the term
previously used by NORDEN for the operation of adjusting the speed according to the most profitable time to arrive for next loading or discharge.
Right steaming entails sailing with optimal speed — i.e. that time including all relevant factors are always considered in proportion to costs.
 
ENVIRONMENTAL GAIN
The environmental gain is a good added bonus of right steaming. However, NORDEN’s technical manager, Senior Vice President Lars Lundegaard states that the considerable and increasing bunker oil costs are the reason behind the company’s aim to right steam at all times.
Bunker oil is a residue product from the refinement of oil. However, the new and modern refineries are much more efficient, and this leads to reduced amounts of the residual product bunker oil and consequential price increases.
If a typical vessel reduces speed by 10% compared to normal service speed, it sails 26 nautical miles longer per tonne of bunker oil. With a bunker oil price of approximately US$700 per tonne, and a daily consumption of 30 tonnes, the reduced speed and consequential reduced bunker oil consumption will have rapid and considerable influence on fleet costs, NORDEN’s bottom line and CO2 emissions.
 
INTRODUCED IN 2009
Right steaming was introduced to NORDEN in 2009 by Norient Product Pool, which handles the commercial and operational management of NORDEN’s product tankers. In 2011, an updated version was implemented in the NORDEN dry cargo fleet of approximately 190 ships.
If a captain on a NORDEN dry cargo vessel or tanker sails faster than planned, and he consequently consumes more bunker oil than necessary, the issue will instantly be flagged and an operator on shore will ask him to explain the higher speed. If there is no reasonable explanation to the higher speed, it must be reduced.
In the weak freight market, which became the order of the day in 2008 with an oversupply of vessels compared to the number of cargoes, it has more or less been necessary for the shipping companies to sail at reduced speed in order to reduce bunker oil costs.
“When times hopefully soon improve — when rates increase again, speed will probably also pick up. But in the future, we will only increase speed following systematic considerations and if it is financially best for NORDEN. Sailing at high speed just for the sake of it is forever over. This will also be beneficial to the environment,” says Lundegaard.