In September 2008 Lantau Shipping bought second hand the vessels MV "Aglaia" and MV "Amalthea". MV "Amalthea" was renamed in MV "Lantau Arrow" and MV "Aglaia" will be reamed into MV "Lantau Ace".

- Lantau's A Class -

In 2001 both vessels been designed and built as so called "Fast Feeder". This means they are doing fully laden a speed in excess of 22 knots. But the consumption then as well is in excess of 66 tons IFO 380 per 24 hours steaming. In our days, caused by the high fuel price and the enviromental burden, this is not so favourable for operators. Slow steaming is as well not the answer because the whole system is not designed for constant loads below 70 % output.
Therefore Lantau Shipping represented by Koepping Shipping Company in Germany signed a contract with Wärtsila, a manufacturer of lots of Shipping related systems and components, to develop and install a so called Slow Steaming Kit. The aim is to operate the vessel between 20 % and 100 % engine load. In theory this means a service speed of 16 knots on 35 % load with a consumption of 23 tons. And the vessel is able to adjust always the speed according to the actual request of the operator.
In future we will constantly inform you about the installation progress. Presently our time schedule shows as completion date for MV Aglaia the end of February 2009.

Installation of a Slow Steaming Kit – a story of success

For the first time ever Waertsila installed a so called Slow Steaming Kit on our MV Lantau Ace. The Kit was developed and built by Waertsila but about the savings in reality nobody had any proven figures on hand so far. 

In the starting of November 2009 the question raised what it’s going to cost to sail the vessel in ballast from Hamburg to Colombo. As a rough figure we calculated 22 days at sea with a fuel oil consumption of 30 tons per 24h all in (auxiliaries, boiler etc.). This was a little bit optimistic but we believed in the slow steaming kit. And for the case that we were wrong, we put some spare fuel on board. Because having at least one week in spare we ask the Captain and all officers to proceed always on the most economical point except in the Gulf of Aden or when otherwise instructed or needed.

Actually the vessel started her journey to Colombo on the 13th of November 2009 at 15.06 hours local (UTC +1) when leaving Hamburg with an amount of 887,9 mt HFO. At 21.00 hours the same day, after dropping the pilot, the sea passage started, having now 882,7 mt HFO remaining. For the first two days the vessel encountered gale force winds from the head (sw’ly 8 to9). Afterwards the weather was fine. When passing Algeciras the vessel had to stop for app. 25 minutes to allow an engineer of Waertsila to leave the vessel after final adjustments to the setup of the SSK. On the 24th of November at 16.12 local time (UTC +2) the vessel passed the limit line for the Suez with still having 657,9 mt HFO on board. This means the MV Lantau Ace did the sea passage of 3549,8 nm in 10 days 17,8 hours with a average speed of 13,77 kn and a daily consumption of 20,93 mt all in. The daily consumption of the main engine calculates with 18 mt HFO.
On the 25th at 15.48 hours lt (UTC +2 hours) after passing the Suez Canal and having still 648,7 mt HFO onboard the see passage to Colombo started.
Passing the Gulf of Aden the vessel had to adjust several times the speed to stay in a convoy. In fact the economical point couldn’t be kept any more. After leaving the dangerous area the vessel proceed again in the most economical manner and arrived at the anchorage of Colombo on the 05th of December at 23.30 hours lt. (UTC +5,5) with 421,0 mt HFO on board. The anchor was dropped on the 06th at 00.24 hours lt.. Actual bunker on board 420,2 mt.

Conclusions:
Passage Hamburg to Suez
Overall distance: 3623,5 nm – time berth to dropping anchor Port Said: 11days and 3 hours – average speed: 13,57 kn with a daily consumption of 20,67 mt all in
Sea passage: 3549,8 nm – time needed: 10 days and 17,8 hours – average speed: 13,77 kn with a daily consumption of 20,93 mt all in

Passage Suez Canal:
The vessel needed 23 hours and 33 minutes for the passage and burnt 9,2 mt fuel.

Passage Suez Canal to Colombo
Overall distance: 3584 nm – time needed: 10 days 5,15 hours – average speed: 14,62 kn with a daily consumption of 22,37 mt all in
Sea passage: 3584 nm – time needed: 10 days 4,25 hours – average speed: 14,67 with a daily consumption of 22,37 mt all in

The vessel needed from Hamburg to Colombo 22 days and 7,7 hours and burnt a amount of 467,7 mt HFO.  This is almost 200 mt less what we expected. Calculating with a price of $ 475,-- per ton the vessel saved $ 91.342,50 on fuel. As well the savings on cylinder oil proofed remarkable. We expected a daily consumption of 200 kg. In fact the vessel needed for the whole voyage an amount of 2.267,25 kg. This means a saving on cylinder oil of 2.132,75 kg. With a kg price of $ 2,21 this means another saving of $ 4.713,38.