DigiPILOT Fuel Saving Rudder Controller Breakthrough Guarantees Shipowner Profitability Complying with the IMO System Energy Management Plan (SEMP)

March 19, 2013 (PRLEAP.COM) Technology News
March 18, 2013 - DigiPILOT minimizes ship's rudder movement, providing significant reduction in fuel costs, voyage time and environmental impact. Initial DigiPILOT tests confirm rehosting 3-Axis SW conversion of the proven sea state compensated inertial steering principles for implementation on Apple's new Mac Mini. At CMA the company is now taking fleet orders for production. The DigiPILOT autopilot "add-on" retrofit alternate economic steering system has a short installation payback and ship-owners purchasing the system's ANNUITY are guaranteed to save fuel-using measurements taken continuously on each voyage by comparison versus the ship's conventional gyropilot's fuel rate usage, or there is no monthly charge. Each voyage is data logged and the improvement is used to calculate the equivalent dollar savings at only a 15% usage fee.

DigiPILOT provides shipowners:

• 1-3% in fuel savings for shipowner's whose fuel bills are 30 to 60% of costs, increasing profit 6-12%
• Shorter voyage time due to increased speed
• Lower Carbon emissions reducing environmental impact

DigiPILOT technology also gives ship-owners a much-needed profit boost while putting them in full compliance with the recent International Maritime Organization (IMO) mandate. The IMO System Energy Management Plan (SEMP), in effect since January 2013, requires ship-owners and operators to consider new technologies and practices for each individual ship when seeking to optimize the performance. Fuel saving rudder control should be the ship owner's first choice for his entire fleet of individual ships by simply adding DigiPILOT to: SEMP Item 4.18 Optimum use of rudder and heading control systems. Autopilot's low cost, low risk add-on to any manufacturer's conventional autopilot that will save fuel on every voyage by comparative measurements.

The timid SEMP statement, "Retrofitting of a more efficient autopilot to existing ships COULD BE CONSIDERED," reflects that the shipping industry has long doubted that rudder control can really save fuel. This was finally debunked by a scientific experiment years ago proving that a steering improvement that reduced drag saves fuel that is measured during the comparison. DigiPILOT, now is the only commercially available fuel saving rudder controller that is not only economical and easy to outfit, even on existing vessels, but also significantly increases ship-owner profit.

AutoMATE™ was featured in a March 2012 gCaptain article: Is Iron Mike The Solution To Ship Efficiency? The product was introduced to ship owners at the last Connecticut Marine Association International Shipping Trade Conference and Exposition in Stamford CT. DigiPILOT will enhance ship owner profits, which is critical to support the bold "Road to Recovery" vision. Visit us at Booth G105 at CMA Shipping 2013 in Stamford, CT

AutoMATE Marine Systems, LLC was incorporated to resume production of its highly successful DigiPILOT. AutoMATE™ Maritime Shipping Fuel Saving Technology products leverage 13 years and $6 million of pioneering development cost from the founders' previous company on $41M sales of bridge automation systems. The delivered performance to 550 ships that experienced 60 million hours of at sea automatic operation.