The Rickmers Group is to implement the ABB EMMA Energy Management system, which is provided by ABB – a worldwide power and automation technology group.
EMMA will help the ship management teams at Rickmers to operate its ships at a maximum level of energy efficiency and to save fuel. Facing changing markets and increasing price pressures, Rickmers expects the system to improve profitability and reduce the overall environmental footprint.
“With the implementation of an energy management system aboard our ships, we are setting up Rickmers for sustainability in two ways – increasing energy efficiency means increasing profitability and reducing our carbon footprint at thesame time”, says Jens Lassen, Managing Director of Rickmers Shipmanagement and Global Head of Rickmers’ business unit Maritime Services. “With current fuel prices, the estimated payback of the system is less than a year” says Mikko Lepistö, responsible for Advisory Systems within ABB’s Vessel Information and Control (VICO), an extension of the Marine and Cranes business unit.
“Through industry experience and tests on-board we are certain that our trim optimization system can help our customers save a substantial amount in fuel consumption and consequently reduce emissions significantly”, Lepistö reaffirms. The Rickmers Group is starting with a group of five ships that are operated by Rickmers-Linie. Rickmers-Linie is a leading global specialist for the ocean transportation of breakbulk, heavylift and project cargoes, and deliveries for largescale projects. The installation of the system will be done ship by ship and the first system is expected to be commissioned in the third quarter of 2012. The complete system for five ships is expected to be fully operational by the end of year. The first five ships to be equipped with EMMA will be Rickmers Singapore, Rickmers New Orleans, Rickmers Jakarta, Rickmers Antwerp and Rickmers Tokyo.