A cut in fuel costs of 53%, achieved without switching to a single alternative fuel. That is the headline finding from Odfjell Ship Management, the Norwegian chemical tanker operator, and it may be the most compelling argument yet that efficiency, not ammonia, methanol or hydrogen, is the maritime industry’s most practical path to decarbonisation.

 

The drive to decarbonise shipping has split the industry along sectoral lines. Container shipping lines, closer to consumers, are being pushed by customers seeking to reduce scope 3 emissions. Liquid and dry bulk operators, typically running at lower speeds and on less fixed routes, are less inclined to shift to alternative fuels that are difficult to source, costly to buy and require new vessels. These three sectors together, tankers, dry bulk and container, account for more than 80% of maritime emissions, so their choices matter.

 

Against that backdrop, Odfjell has taken a different route. The company operates a fleet of 70 chemical tankers of varying ages and has developed a methodology it believes will allow it to meet net-zero targets through to 2040, using the ships it already has. Erik Hjortland, VP of technology at Odfjell Ship Management, says the company began planning its operational efficiency programme in 2007 and started upgrading its fleet in 2014, benchmarking against a 2008 baseline. The fuel cost reduction of 53% has been independently corroborated.

 

“We have done that without putting any stress on the renewable electricity infrastructure in the world, which we would have had to do if we had gone through the alternative fuels route,” says Hjortland. He points to a Clarkson study showing that 63% of the world’s fleet has still not installed any energy saving devices. “Imagine the potential, what we as a sector could have accomplished if everybody had made these changes.”

 

Wind in their sails

The tools Odfjell has deployed are neither exotic nor experimental. Energy saving devices, including Mewis Ducts, propeller boss caps, shaft generators and weather routing technology, have been fitted across the fleet. Last year, four bound4blue rigid suction sails were installed on the Bow Olympus, a 48,500dwt tanker. The results were sufficiently positive that Odfjell intends to fit suction sails across its entire fleet eventually.

 

“Our first voyage with sails showed positive results,” says Hjortland. “We expect that with these sails we will not need biofuel until 2031, and very little biofuel after that up to 2034.”

 

Underpinning all of this is a data system that Odfjell built in 2014, an automated tool that processes noon reports from captains and crew, flagging energy inefficiencies in real time. “We get approximately 100 alarms every day in that system, and we have a separate team who deal with those alarms, interact with the crew and work to reduce consumption,” says Hjortland. A business intelligence layer then benchmarks each vessel against the rest of the fleet, identifying best practice and spreading it across the operation. “I cannot stress enough how important this is,” he adds.

 

The investment case is equally straightforward. Odfjell has committed US$40 million across 140 energy saving devices, with most delivering a return on investment of between four and six months.

 

A numbers game

The economics of why this beats alternative fuels, at least for now, are stark. Odfjell’s analysis shows that a kilowatt-hour of renewable energy suffers significant losses through the alternative fuel production chain – 30% lost producing hydrogen, a further 30% converting it to ammonia or methanol, and up to 60% of what remains lost at the propeller. Wind power via rigid sails, by contrast, loses just 10% between sail and propeller.

 

Hjortland does not dismiss alternative fuels. Ammonia, methanol and hydrogen will ultimately be needed to reach net zero, but they represent, in his words, “huge projects somewhere down the line, multi-billion-dollar investments”. The business case for halving your fuel bill through efficiency measures, by contrast, is available to any operator today.

 

With 63% of the global fleet yet to fit a single energy saving device, the gap between what is possible and what is being done has rarely looked wider.

 

This article appeared in In depth, TNA Mar/Apr 2026