Coastal weather routeing now mainstream

Feb 02 2018


According to Metocean data provider Tidetech, owners are increasingly requesting high resolution data for regional trading patterns and coastal waters where tides and currents can have a greater impact on fuel consumption than on an ocean voyage.

The renewed take-up of interest in weather routeing is being driven by a combination of related factors - the EU MRV, the 2020 sulfur cap and IMO DCS regulations.

 

“There is a long standing misconception that weather services can only have a benefit when sailing in blue water and that once ships are in coastal waters or traffic separation schemes that this part of the voyage cannot be optimised,” explained Tidetech founder and managing director, Penny Haire. “We have proven definitively that there are more potential cost savings from optimising against currents in UK coastal and Northern European waters than there are across the whole North Atlantic and customers are already taking advantage of this in speed optimisation and performance analysis.”

 

As a result, operators can predict ETA more accurately and use vessel speed and power settings to arrive on schedule, even when it changes. Tidetech claims to be the only provider of coastal tides and currents high resolution modelling, including in critical locations, such as the Malacca Strait and English Channel. The company also delivers combined ocean current and tide data on a global basis.

 



Previous: Wärtsilä sees increasing interest in BWMS retrofits

Next: Marlink expands in Japan


June July 2025

Tanker Operator Athens report - MEPC 83 explained - decarbonisation by Norwegian shipowners