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Applied Weather Technology (AWT) says that sales of its BonVoyage System (BVS) have increased by more than 25 percent due to rising bunker costs over the last few years and increased awareness in the maritime industry about the effectiveness of using weather and ship-routing technology to lower fuel consumption, costs and CO2 emissions.

"BVS makes it easier than ever for Captains to chart more efficient voyages that not only save money by reducing fuel consumption, but also reduce CO2 emissions and enhance safety," said Skip Vaccarello, president and CEO for AWT.

"More and more leaders in the maritime industry are realizing how significantly ship routing technology can reduce costs. In AWT studies, fleets have realized fuel savings of between 5 and 10 percent, which in some cases could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year."

Amongst the innovations driving adoption of BVS version 6.0 are high-resolution updates of Naval Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) data, which now allow ship Captains to view real-time analyses and forecasts of ocean current conditions at a quarter-by-quarter degree, rather than at the generally available one-by-one degree.

AWT says it is the only company to offer NCOM data at this level of detail and accuracy which can contribute to fuel conservation by enabling Captains to make key decisions to sail with positive currents or avoid adverse currents.

"Typically companies have leveraged weather and ship-routing technology to enhance safety, reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions on transoceanic voyages. Now, with BVS's higher-resolution NCOM data, they have a new way to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions on coastal voyages as well," said Richard Brown, vice president of business development for AWT.

"If a fleet of 50 vessels were to save approximately one to two percent of fuel per coastal voyage by leveraging AWT's high-resolution NCOM data, assuming 22 days at sea with average consumption of 35 metric tons (MT) per day, the average savings is 7-15 MT per vessel, per month. The resulting annual fuel reduction amounts to approximately 9,240 MT, which translates to potential savings of $4.2 million USD per year," AWT said in a statement.

BVS is used by Captains aboard more than 3,500 ships to identify the safest and most time-efficient or fuel-efficient routes to their destinations, given the latest weather and sea conditions as well as vessels' specifications.

BVS 6.0 has features designed to help ship Captains and fleet managers reduce fuel costs and curb CO2 emissions. It also provides other innovations such as 16-day forecasts updated four times daily, and 10 years of historical climate data for planning voyages longer than 16 days.

AWT estimates its routing services and BonVoyage (BVS) marine voyage optimization software save the shipping industry approximately 365,000 metric tons (MT) of fuel per year. This translates to potential cost savings of more than $166 million USD per year and a reduction of 1,162,000 MT in CO2 emissions, the equivalent of removing 258,000 cars from the road.