The GATERS Project – An Innovative way of retrofitting ships for greener and safer operations

Abstract

This paper presents the first-year activities of the H2020 Innovation Action project GATERS for greener propulsion of ships using an innovative retrofit energy-saving and steering device, the Gate Rudder System (GRS). One of the project’s main aims is to retrofit a target coastal vessel with a GRS for the first time and demonstrate its effectiveness. The target vessel is the existing 6400 DWT general cargo ship (MV Erge), currently fitted with a high-lift conventional rudder system (CRS), which a retrofit GRS will replace in GATERS as one of the project aims. This paper provides a background of GRS technology and the project motivation, including a brief project overview. The details of the retrofit task involving the design of the main GRS components and estimated power-saving are also reported in the paper. The vessel is scheduled to be retrofitted in December 2022 for demonstration and further performance monitoring.