Total Cost of Ownership
Analysis of Total Cost of Ownership of Maritime Valve Control Systems
Author: Per Jarle Furnes, Business Development Manager, Eltorque AS, Trondheim, Norway.
Examining Various Technologies in Automated Valve Control Systems
This paper examines how various technologies in automatic valve control systems impact total cost of ownership (TCO) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Automatic valve control is vital for the safe operation of modern ships in the maritime sector. Our findings reveal that contemporary valve control systems employing full electric technology significantly outperform pneumatic and (electro)–hydraulic alternatives.
Despite comparable investment costs, electric systems consume less than one-seventh energy and one-sixth of the operational costs associated with manual systems. This reduction in operational costs is attributed to their enhanced reliability, which demands nearly zero maintenance. The high reliability and low energy consumption of these systems not only provide economic advantages for ship owners over the vessel’s lifetime but also align with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) recently revised strategies for greenhouse gas reduction, adopted in July 2023.