SailTimer is revolutionizing the way ships receive weather data by utilizing innovative technology to crowdsource information. This new approach allows ships to access data that has never been available before, leading to reduced fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Traditional marine weather forecasts, based on satellite imaging, are often inaccurate and updated only every 6 hours. These forecasts have significant errors in wind direction, especially in coastal areas where wind flows around landforms. The low resolution of satellite imaging also limits the accuracy of the data, providing only one wind direction for each cell, typically 15 x 15 nautical miles.
By incorporating SailTimer’s crowdsourced wind measurements into weather routing software, ships can calculate their arrival time with greater certainty. This enables ships to adjust their speed accordingly, resulting in lower fuel costs and emissions. Rather than rerouting around storms, staying on the direct rhumb line to the destination and reducing speed can offer significant benefits. Crowdsourced wind measurements from other vessels provide real-time updates on arrival time and minimum speed required throughout the journey.
The SailTimer Air Link offers an affordable solution for extracting data from ships, costing only $75. This device can capture data from on-board networks and assist with emissions reporting, compliance, voyage optimization, and predictive maintenance. By utilizing satellite transmissions on the ship, the Air Link can send data to an online database in real-time or store it on a micro-SD card. This cost-effective method of digitizing data can aid ship owners in calculating and planning for carbon fees under initiatives like FuelEU and EU ETS.