On the 18th March a group of over 50 Hong Kong branch members and guest attended at the Police Officers'Club

to hear Mr. Rich Brown on

STRATEGIC & TACTICAL WEATHER ROUTING TO REDUCE FUEL COMSUPTION

With soaring fuel costs and a new emphasis to reduce greenhouse gases,
shipping companies are looking for ways to reduce the fuel consumption of
their fleets. The choice of an optimal route is paramount in achieving the
purpose. With the average weather routing service fee equivalent of only
1-2 metric tons (MT) of bunker fuel, it is a very small risk for one of the
largest returns on investment available with regards to fuel savings.

Strategically, many Captains use short-range forecasts to make routing
decisions. This is good for getting around an individual low pressure
system but will not necessarily provide the optimum time or fuel route.
On longer passages, using monthly average for speed reduction regardless of
ship-type, heading and climo-year (El Nino, La Nina & Neutral Year) tends to
under-estimate speed loss and yield wrong decision on route choice.
Tactically, choice in making the best advantage of current and avoiding
local risks of severe motion rely entirely on the monthly Pilot chart and
experience of individual mariners.

Mr. Rich Brown of Applied Weather Technology Inc. will speak about how
weather routing by using onboard routing software and receiving shore-based
expert advice will help to optimise on fuel savings. Special focus will be
made on the breakthrough in using a date, course, ship-type and climo-year
specific Climatological Ship Resistance model to determine a more realistic
speed reduction and develop the best route under the circumstances. Rich
will also explore the capabilities of new generation onboard routing
software and the pitfalls of some of these systems.


Mr. Rich Brown is the VP Product Management of Applied Weather Technology
Inc., a California based leading marine weather services company. Rich is
involved in design, development and implementation of innovative tools,
including AWT's new onboard weather and route planning software BonVoyage
(BVS 6.0), a fleet management tool using Google Earth and the Climatological
Ship Resistance model, a proprietary method of calculating the long-range
speed loss based on ship type, El Nino, La Nina and Neutral weather
patterns. This model significantly improves ETA projections when compared
to using climatological weather beyond the short-range forecast.

Rich has 32 years experience in the Weather Routing industry and has been a
member of the American Meteorological Society for 35 years.