Piloting of Vessel Technical Index

Studies have shown that about half of the reduction potential can be achieved through adopting the fuel saving measures. However, the lack of information, uncertainty about hidden costs/benefits, information asymmetry between stakeholders, conflicts of interest and split incentives etc. hinder the application of the fuel saving measures. To evaluate ship technical performance and efficiency of fuel saving measures in a transparent way is critical to remove the barriers. Thus, DNV has proposed Vessel Technical Index (VTI), which isolates the technical condition of in-service ship, by accounting and adjusting for the relevant operational factors and weather effects. This index can evaluate ship technical performance in an effective and transparent way, which can enhance the cooperation between stakeholders to remove barriers that hinder the application of fuel saving measures, which also can help ship owners to optimize ship maintenance. VTI index is based on some measurement parameters, which need to be collected, processed, and synchronized. The measurement data always includes noises, and the physical models to correct the operational factors and weather effects also have model uncertainty. Thus, a systematical method to collect data, process data, calculate VTI index and evaluate VTI uncertainty has been developed, which will be presented in this paper. Three use cases of the VTI index will also be discussed.