The analysing energy efficiency for sailing ships in optimal travel route planning. Case study: World voyage of the training ship "Mircea"

Reducing fuel consumption is a major goal in planning a ship's voyage. In addition to reducing the operational costs of the voyage, this planning objective influences the energy efficiency of the voyage. This study presents a method for identifying the operational energy efficiency in planning a voyage route to sailboats. In this regard, in the first part of the study was developed a method for determining the Energy Efficiency Performance Indicator (EEOI) of a voyage route for sailing ships. In the second part of the study, to validate the developed method, were analyzed two voyage routes, with imposed limitations, to identify the optimal voyage route around the world for the Training ship „Mircea”. The Training ship „Mircea” is a training ship for the students of the "Mircea cel Bătrân" Naval Academy. The analysis was performed for two navigation routes, namely from East to West and from West to East, departing/arriving from the port of Constanța. The results of the analysis indicate that the route from West to East is the optimal route for Mircea's voyage around the world from the perspective of the ship's energy efficiency.