Yara moves into fuel optimization business with Lean Marine takeover

Norwegian exhaust gas production firm Yara Marine Technologies has acquired Lean Marine, a company specializing in automated fuel-saving and performance management solutions for vessels.

The move is in line with the company’s expansion plans beyond scrubbers, a market that took a major plunge during Covid.

The diversification of the company’s portfolio has already seen Yara push into the wind-assisted propulsion markets through a partnership with BAR Technologies, as well as the return to its shore power business.

As informed, Lean Marine’s intelligent software and hardware solutions have been installed on more than 200 vessels worldwide. The company’s most popular products include FuelOpt system and Fleet Analytic, which can improve operational efficiency, with potential fuel consumption and CO₂emission savings of up to 25 percent.

The FuelOpt system optimises a vessel’s propulsion line in real-time based on the commands from the bridge, enabling automated control of vessel speed and fuel consumption, and avoiding fuel overconsumption. Fleet Analytics turns the vessel’s data into knowledge to improve decision-making and achieve operational excellence.

Lean Marine plans to continue to offer FuelOpt and Fleet Analytics as part of Yara Marine’s portfolio of green technologies for the maritime industry, and these offerings will be backed by Yara Marine’s global service and support infrastructure.

The merger is of particular importance in the context of ever-stricter emissions regulations which are turning up the heat on the shipping sector to optimize their performance and cut emissions.

“We are now ready to move our solutions into the next phase of rapid expansion, in a global market, where the frontrunners will show the way,“ Mikael Laurin, Chief Executive Officer, Lean Marine, said.

“We already see several interesting synergies between us. For instance, the integration of wind-assisted propulsion and conventional propulsion systems requires a smart solution, one that is able to dynamically adjust engine power, pitch propeller, and route for real time optimisation of fuel efficiency. This is a very interesting arena now that Yara Marine is bringing WindWings to the market.”

“The purpose of our work is to make this industry greener, and we do that by continuously introducing new solutions. Lean Marine’s innovative vessel efficiency technologies is our next important step on that journey. We have spent more than a year analysing dozens of system providers, but no one comes close to what we found at Lean Marine. The savings offered by their technologies made our engineers’ hearts skip a beat. In addition, their experience in propulsion control systems, customized marine engineering, and hydrodynamics really put fast-moving digital developments into good use,” Thomas Koniordos, Chief Executive Officer, Yara Marine Technologies, said.