Jeppesen announced today a contract with the U.S. Navy for a 6-month trial evaluation of the Jeppesen Vessel and Voyage Optimization Solution (VVOS). Jeppesen’s VVOS technology combines ocean weather forecasts, advanced computer modeling of ship performance, and sophisticated, proprietary route optimization algorithms to potentially improve the efficiency of ship navigation by reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions, improving ETAs and providing valuable data that can be used to help extend the life of a vessel. VVOS will be evaluated by Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command – CNMOC - at the Naval Maritime Forecast Centers in Norfolk, Virginia and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
“Our VVOS optimization product has proven to deliver superior results over other weather routing and optimization systems, and we look forward to proving ourselves again during this trial,” said Jeremy Langdon, Jeppesen director and general manager – Marine.
The commercial off-the-shelf version of VVOS includes proprietary high quality weather and wave forecasts of up to 15 days, updated twice daily. High resolution (1/32-degree) surface ocean currents, updated daily, are also provided and utilized in VVOS’s route optimization computations. “Weather forecasts are not all equal”, says Dr. Henry Chen, Jeppesen’s chief naval architect. “Our forecasts differ from most by being quality-controlled manually by veteran meteorologists who specialize in ocean weather. We also have a 50-year hindcast ocean weather database against which forecasted trends can be compared.
A key feature of Jeppesen VVOS is its ability to calculate an “optimal passage solution” against which actual passages can be objectively compared for relative efficiency. This patent-pending benchmarking methodology is based on the principle that for a given passage with specific ship loading conditions and departure and arrival times, there is a theoretical optimal passage that minimizes fuel consumption while meeting all safety requirements and other user-specified constraints. VVOS calculates this optimal route and speed profile, first, by creating a grid of all possible solutions, and then searching for the most efficient solution using Jeppesen’s proprietary Dynamic Programming algorithm.
Using this benchmarking methodology, the relative benefits of different products can be meaningfully compared. For example, the relative efficiency of typical “weather routing” products, in which a user’s route is planned using a set of generic speed reduction curves to dead-reckon the ship’s position to avoid storms, can be compared to more advanced route-speed management technologies such as VVOS Route.
Dr. Phil Ballou, Jeppesen’s head of marine engineering, adds, “The benefits of VVOS in terms of improved operating efficiency should not be measured only in reduced annual fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and improved on-time arrival. Users will also benefit by improved operating safety of crew, cargo, and ship. When combined with Jeppesen’s Fleet Manager software to track and optimize fleet deployment efficiency, the potential overall savings are substantial.”
About Jeppesen
Jeppesen is a market-leading provider of vessel operations services, meteorological information, transmission technologies and digital navigation solutions, based on worldwide vector chart data type approved to ISO19879. Jeppesen offers a wide range of navigation and operations products and services to both light and commercial marine markets. Safety-conscious operators managing vessels that range from inland and coastal towboats to SOLAS class vessels, rely on Jeppesen, which is chartered with the same underlying values that launched the company in 1934 – improving safety and efficiency through innovative navigation solutions.
For more than 75 years Jeppesen has made it possible for pilots and their passengers to safely and efficiently reach their destinations. Today this pioneering spirit continues as Jeppesen delivers essential information and optimization solutions to improve the efficiency of air, sea and rail operations around the globe. Jeppesen is a subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, a unit of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Jeppesen corporate information is available online at Jeppesen.com.
Media Contacts:
Mike Pound
Jeppesen Corporate Communications
(303) 328-4777
Willy Zeiler
Jeppesen Commercial Marine
+47 90 66 70 36
michael.pound@jeppesen.com willy.zeiler@jeppesen.com
