Brittany Ferries, Adrena and Bureau Veritas achieve up to 6% energy savings through digital twin-optimized routing

Brittany Ferries, Adrena and Bureau Veritas Solutions Marine & Offshore (“BV Solutions”, the M&O advisory services business line of Bureau Veritas) have successfully demonstrated fuel savings of up to 6% through the deployment of an advanced digital twin-enabled routing solution. The AdrenaShip concept highlights the potential of advanced digital technologies to improve vessel efficiency and support maritime decarbonization.

Combining Brittany Ferries' operational expertise, Adrena's route optimization capabilities and BV Solutions’ vessel performance and digital twin expertise, the three partners have developed a solution that delivers measurable reductions in fuel consumption while maintaining operational reliability, schedule integrity and service quality. Validated through thousands of commercial voyages and nearly two years of onboard monitoring aboard the Galicia, one of Brittany Ferries' E-Flexer-class vessels, the solution has now been deployed across nine vessels in the Brittany Ferries fleet.

Brittany Ferries and Adrena first launched AdrenaShip in 2016 to provide a routing solution designed to improve fuel efficiency and operational safety through route optimization and performance analysis; delivering fuel savings of approximately 4%.In 2022, Brittany Ferries expanded the partnership to include BV Solutions to develop vessel-specific digital twins that enhance the predictive capabilities of AdrenaShip.

By combining operational data, engineering expertise and onboard experience, the digital twins improve the accuracy of routing recommendations and provide guidance on machinery operation, enabling fuel savings of up to 6%, validated via extensive operational testing.

The results achieved are particularly significant given Brittany Ferries' operating profile, whose Ro-Pax vessels mainly operate short crossings under sustained operational constraints between France, the United Kingdom, Guernsey, Ireland and Spain. This collaboration between Brittany Ferries, Adrena and BV Solutions M&O illustrates the maritime industry's ability to combine field expertise, digital innovation and the energy transition to support the sector's decarbonization.

Brice ROBINSON, Head of Studies and Projects, Brittany Ferries, said: "This initiative perfectly illustrates our commitment to developing tailor-made digital solutions that are adapted to the specific characteristics of our fleet and our operations. This success is the result of a collective effort carried out with our crews, which has enabled continuous improvement of the tools since its launch. The results achieved demonstrate that it is possible to reduce our vessels' energy consumption while preserving the reliability of our operations and the experience we offer our customers. And this momentum continues: these solutions keep evolving to support our performance and energy transition ambitions." 

Michel RODET, Chairman and Founder, Adrena, said: "The results achieved on the Galicia confirm what we have been developing for close to 15 years: a routing and consumption prediction model with 97% reliability, validated here under real commercial operating conditions and strict ETA constraints. This level of accuracy has been proven in the field, not in a simulated environment. It was measured on actual crossings, by an independent body, over almost two years of study. It is this rigor that allows crews to trust AdrenaShip's recommendations and fully realize the operational and environmental benefits."

Brittany Ferries’ AdrenaShip initiative forms part of a broader decarbonization program that includes an application developed by BV Solutions M&O: OptiCARBON™. This decision-support platform is designed to help shipowners optimize their operations as well as their investment decisions regarding retrofit and fleet renewal.