Monday, April 28, 2008

Cargo Ship Balance Loading Can Save Fuel Costs

Internally at IBM we recently hosted a green innovation video contest where employees submitted ideas that IBM could bring to market to reduce waste. As a participant I rated a few of the videos and came across this one that has a significant supply chain angle.

It's no surprise that cargo ships are gas guzzlers. They make a Hummer look like a Prius, which is why shippers need to squeeze as much as they can out of each drop of fuel. One way to do this to to properly balance the containers. Check out this video to see what I am talking about.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good idea based on common sense. I'm sure the size of today's cargo ships and complexity of the possible loading arrangements makes this a good place to use software algorithms, rather than just gut feel. It seems to be a good technology, because it lets you use existing cargo ships more efficiently. Sort of reminds me of the giant kites that cargo ships are starting to use to harness wind power to assist their regular fueled propulsion. The best technology often builds on existing infrastructure, rather than insisting on new infrastructure.