Case Study · 2023

Persian Gulf → South Atlantic

Indian Ocean · Cape · South Atlantic
Bulk Carrier 2023 7,938.25 nm No ECA
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0.94%
FOC reduction
624.01 vs 629.92 MT · −5.91 MT
−1.02%
Distance saved
7,938.25 nm optimised · −81.5 nm
−0.91%
Voyage duration
−5h 36m vs historical AIS
Voyage Summary

Persian Gulf to South Atlantic — 2023

India-to-Brazil tanker voyage from Gujarat to Rio de Janeiro, 25 days westbound across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and across the South Atlantic, October–November 2023. The route-averaged significant wave height was 1.95 m on the optimised track. The highest seas of the voyage came late, on the Brazilian approach at 24.2°S, 34.3°W: the optimised track encountered a peak of 5.96 m versus 5.64 m on the historical track – a marginally higher absolute peak in exchange for reduced overall heavy-weather dwell time, with Sea State 5+ waypoints cut from 26.1% to 23.4%. The lane runs entirely outside ECA zones, so VLSFO was held throughout with no fuel-switching event, and the 0.94% FOC savings (5.9 MT) is a pure routing result rather than a fuel-grade arbitrage.

Conservative baseline Bulk carrier
Sea-state profile

The conditions the optimised track held against

How the voyage performed across wave height and Douglas Sea State exposure — recorded waypoint-by-waypoint.

Metric Optimised Historical Delta
Sea State 5+ 23.4% 26.1% 2.7pp reduction
Interactive Route

Explore the optimised track

Waypoint-by-waypoint against the historical AIS baseline.

Methodology

How this voyage was verified

The historical AIS track was pulled from public records and matched against the master’s own reports. The VF Engine then re-routed the same vessel under the weather as it actually occurred — not a forecast. Both tracks were scored by the same FOC prediction model and compared waypoint by waypoint. The 0.94% reduction is the delta sailed at the same speed band, under the same wind and wave conditions.

Read the full validation methodology
Previous voyage Tubarão Pascagoula 1.67% · Tanker · 2018 Next voyage Sture Tetney Terminal 14.51% · Tanker · 2019

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