Ship&Offshore | Issue 06/2025
Höegh Aurora’s fuel tanks a stitch in time
Chemical tanker firm Utkilen is optimising its vessels to operate more slowly, and re-tooling vessels’ gears has already made a striking difference. “We are rebuilding gears. It sounds a bit boring to talk about gears, but that is where we see some of the biggest savings … more than 10-15% on that alone,” said head of Ship Management Jarle Hillestad. “They were designed in a different era, where the speed was 15 knots, whilst most vessels today are operating on 11, 12. So we are reducing the RPM output of the propeller, optimising it to the speed that we are operating on today.”...