Bachelor’s student provides a technological boost

A boat trip on a lake is wonderfully relaxing. The flip side: passenger shipping generates emissions and, according to the Federal Office of Transport, accounts for 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions from public transport. It ranks third behind buses and the railways.

New propulsion technologies are on the way, but Dr sc. ETH Nikolas Schaal says action needs to be taken now, especially with regard to vessels already in existence. Schaal is Digitisation project manager at Shiptec AG, the largest commercial shipyard in Switzerland. «Passenger boats have a service life of 50 years or more. The popular steamships have plied the lakes for over 100 years. However, changing the engines is often neither economically nor technically feasible. Practicable and affordable solutions for more sustainable operations are needed.»

Bachelor’s graduate comes up with a new solution

FHNW graduate Ramon Sieber studied Mechatronics Trinational at the FHNW School of Engineering in Muttenz. «The mechatronics degree is at the interface of mechanical engineering, computer science and electrical engineering,» explains the native of Graubünden. “The three disciplines merge on a ship. I was captivated by that right from the start.” During his bachelor’s thesis on behalf of Shiptec AG, he created a fuel-saving system based on what he had learned.

Sieber’s approach: fuel consumption depends heavily on the way the skipper operates the vessel. «My task was to use data to determine the most efficient handling of the boat and to show it to the skipper in real time.»

EcoLog records all the relevant data and stores it in the cloud. It includes fuel consumption, acceleration, the temperature of ship components, the rudder position, the vessel’s position, the number of people on board and the weather.

EcoPilot uses a complex algorithm to calculate the most efficient way of operating the vessel and displays it to the skipper. EcoPilot also uses artificial intelligence to make predictions, including expected passenger numbers. Sieber: «On a Whit Sunday in sunny weather, a boat needs more time for embarking and disembarking than on a rainy Monday morning with few passengers. EcoPilot ensures that the vessel always approaches the landing stages at the right time.»

Savings potential: one million litres of diesel per year

The result after 20-day trials on Lakes Walen and Lucerne was impressive: «The potential to reduce fuel consumption is 12.3% or more. Using both systems on all 148 of Switzerland’s licensed passenger boats could save around one million litres of diesel annually. That’s my contribution to combating global warming,» says Sieber.

The two systems, EcoLog and EcoPilot, have already been successfully launched on the market. Lake Walen’s entire passenger boat fleet is equipped with EcoLog and EcoPilot.

Shiptec AG’s Schaal comments that the technology is already in use internationally and is always forward-looking. It can even be used for electric propulsion, where it helps make most efficient use of the limited battery capacity.