Case Study · 2022

Tubarão → Port Louis

South Atlantic · Indian Ocean
Tanker 2022 5,513.93 nm No ECA
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14.34%
FOC reduction
503.45 vs 587.75 MT · −84.30 MT
−1.80%
Distance saved
5,513.93 nm optimised · −101 nm
−1.85%
Voyage duration
−8h 56m vs historical AIS
Voyage Summary

Tubarão to Port Louis — 2022

Eastbound tanker voyage from Tubarão to Port Louis, 20 days, 5,514 nm – across the South Atlantic, round the Cape of Good Hope, across the southern Indian Ocean. September 2023. The lane runs entirely through the Southern Ocean's high-sea-state corridor; the historical replay spent 100% of the voyage at Sea State 4+ and 13.7% at Sea State 6+ (≥4 m), with a 6.09 m peak just south-west of the Cape. The optimised track cut Sea State 6+ exposure to 1.3%, a 10% reduction, and Sea State 5+ exposure from 62.4% to 40.9%. Peak wave encounter dropped from 6.09 m to 4.29 m, and the peak itself relocated: from the Cape's stormiest zone to a milder corridor south-east of Madagascar. Mean SOG 11.6 kn. The result was a 14.34% FOC saving (84 MT), outside any ECA, so a clean routing-and-weather management saving rather than a fuel-grade effect.

Heavy weather Safety routing
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 6+ 1.3% 13.7% 12.4pp reduction
Peak wave height 6.09 m on optimized track
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 14.34% reduction is the delta sailed at the same speed band, under the same wind and wave conditions.

Read the full validation methodology
Previous voyage Sture Tetney Terminal 14.51% · Tanker · 2019 Next voyage Tubarão Gulf of Mexico 13.67% · Tanker · 2022

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